Why Traders Should Heed Steinbeck's 'Good' Over 'Perfect'

John Steinbeck wrote in East of Eden: "And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good." The line is a gentle rebuke to anyone who has ever frozen at a decision point, waiting for the flawless setup that never arrives.

In trading, the pursuit of perfection is a silent portfolio killer. It shows up as the entry that never gets filled because the price didn't retrace to the exact level. The exit that turns a 12% gain into a 2% scratch because the top wasn't called. The position that never gets sized because the risk-reward wasn't 1:3.00.

Steinbeck's insight is that perfection is a condition for judgment, not for action. Goodness – in trading, consistency, discipline, and honesty about losses – becomes possible only when the demand for flawlessness is dropped. A trader who accepts a 60% win rate and a 1:1.5 average risk-reward can compound capital over years. A trader who waits for 80% and 1:3 often ends the year flat, having traded half the opportunities.