An interesting question to ask oneself when some self-flagellation is apropos [using the self criticism rather than the religious meaning] is the following:

Where am I on the curve that measures my 'reflexive' interaction with price data?

Or -

put another way - Relative to time's never ending procession, am I getting better or worse at coming up with/improving alpha strategies and - contemporaneously - is the market becoming relatively 'easier' or 'more difficult to extract a comfortable living from'?

A non-exhaustive list for me would have the following points for me to discuss with myself during the 'flagellation':

* To the extent that mastering kdb+/q is important to my future I could become more expert. [I do not think it is a future determinate, but I place on the list]

* I would say my domain knowledge of directional trading has continued a sharply accelerating upward curve. [Various tweets over the past months have addressed various factors describing why this is the case]

* My acceptance of both reversionary and momentum outcomes

and methodologies to deal with the market's constant desire to reward different strategies from time to time are major edges.

* I carry zero [and I mean zero] intellectual baggage from previous education and papers etc. and carry zero bias against any market doing any thing.

* I could have reasonably higher returns but I am unwilling to accept the extra risk. This is particularly acute as I have satisfied myself that markets tend to realize higher variance in future on data that does not yet exist, than that which we have observed historically.

....this leads me to carry *notably* less risk than I am capable of and sometimes others wish that I would.

* I am quite certain that if I took more interest in longer term holding periods then I may be able to alter the extremes of my profile to elevate somewhat....but...but..

...the risks to the future are multiplicative.....

Ok - Mea Culpa, I may be too timid (?) but I survive and prosper.