ULTRA THEORY / UT’s Radio / Episode 01

What does success look like,
I wonder.

Bath, evening drink, on-site, and the market. A place where a man who has lived as a trader talks freely about thoughts that come to him, without being asked.

While soaking in the bath, a thought occurred to me.

What is success, really?

There should be a place where I talk freely about something that isn’t a trading method or a grand life philosophy, without anyone asking me to.

So I’ll start.

UT’s Radio.

For the inaugural episode, a talk about success.

I am already happy

Honestly, I’m already in a state of happiness right now.

If I have any complaints, it’s that going to work is bothersome, or that I want to drink delicious liquor as much as I want without worrying about the price. That kind of thing (laughs).

But the biggest complaint isn’t that.

I want my family to enjoy more of the pleasures money can buy.

There are places I want to go.

Things I want to eat.

Things I want to try.

I want to be the kind of family that doesn’t say, “Let’s stop because of the cost.”

The main reason I’ve chased success all along is probably right there.

Becoming rich isn’t the only thing I want. But what I truly want isn’t the stack of cash itself.

I think it’s about choices.

I want to be someone who doesn’t block the family’s “I want to try” with money. I want to be able to create that state in myself.

So, for me, is success just about becoming happy?

No. Probably not.

Because I’m already happy.

Ten years ago, I was not in time

About ten years ago, I hit rock bottom.

Originally, I was exceptionally good at believing in myself.

I could do it.

In the end, I would somehow manage it.

I was quite serious when I believed that.

But I was not in time.

I couldn’t pay the rent. It got to a state close to running away at night, and I ended up tearing my family apart.

This isn’t a story to be turned into a fine tale.

I burdened not only myself but my family with the consequences of choices I made.

Losing money was painful. But the hardest part was feeling betrayed by the self I trusted.

I should have been able to do it.

And yet, I couldn’t.

To be precise, I couldn’t in time before I could do it.

In the trading room, I cried a lot, ashamed of myself.

I cried and cried and cried.

And yet that day, the sun was shining brilliantly.

Beautiful light entering through the window illuminated the floor of the room.

I thought my life was over, but the world was sunny as usual (laugh).

Why did I start GTD on the day my life ended

I lost everything.

It was over.

The actions I took that day—again, funny to think about—

for the first time in my life, I did GTD.

Just then, you know? (laughs)

Since everything was over, I told myself today I didn’t have to worry about anything.

I didn’t have to do anything, I didn’t have to care. Because it was all over.

With that half-hearted resolve or perhaps resignation, I dumped everything I had in my head into a notebook.

Money matters.

Work matters.

Family matters.

Trading matters.

Anxiety, regrets, things I have to do, things I want to do—all of it.

Until then, everything had seemed like one massive block saying “life is over.”

But when I broke it down onto the page, it was different.

Things I could do right now.

Things I can’t do now.

Things that can’t be helped.

Things I can still do something about.

As I separated them, a path appeared.

Then I thought this.

There was ground beneath the bottom

Oh, I thought I was at the bottom, it was all over.

My bottom was,
a unbelievably tough ground.

It wasn’t that I fell into an endless swamp, you know.

It hurt.

It was embarrassing.

There were things I lost.

Those things don’t disappear.

But I could stand on my feet.

If I could stand, I could take a step.

And that’s when I laid out a five-year plan for success.

And it ultimately took ten years (laugh).

I planned to do it in five years, but it doubled in time.

The plan didn’t go as expected. But the direction was correct.

While adjusting to the facts, I kept moving without stopping.

And now, in 2026, I feel that I am about 99.9% the “trader in my own completed form” I imagined that day.

I didn’t predict the future.

But on that day I found ground, and I stood on it for ten years.

What I count as happiness has increased

Now, I don’t know how someone who isn’t happy would feel reading this in the future.

People have their own circumstances.

There are illnesses. There is loss. There are family situations.

Even with the same fridge, even with the same futon, there are days when the heart doesn’t feel happy about it.

So I’m not saying “everyone is happy.”

I’m not saying, “Because I could do it, you should think so, too.”

This is simplya story about what I began to count as happiness.

A space to shield from wind and rain.

Water to drink.

A refrigerator to store food.

A bath to bathe in.

To sleep safely and warmly.

And on top of that, a smartphone, music I like, and unlimited entertainment.

I’m enjoying such luxury, so why do I still look so solemn? I should savor this happiness a bit more (laugh).

Even in the room I thought ten years ago was where everything ended, sunlight was coming in.

Probably because I once believed that what existed could disappear, I can now see clearly what still exists.

I no longer delay happiness until I succeed.

What is success, really.

Still, I want to succeed more.

I want to show my family even more things.

I want to be freer.

Going to work is bothersome, and I want to drink lots of good liquor (laugh).

Feeling the happiness I have now and wanting to go further are not in conflict.

So for me now, this may be what success looks like.

Success is not about becoming happy.

To remove the limitations placed on the happiness that already exists one by one.

Make it so that money isn’t the reason to say “no” to the family.

And become someone who can increase those options.

Ten years ago I might have believed that I must succeed to be happy.

Now it’s different.

I don’t want to become happy. I already am.
I want to spread this happiness further.

Perhaps that is what success is after all.

But this story—

I was going to end it here, but while writing I realized something.

This also connects directly to trading.

People who think, “If I don’t succeed, I can’t be happy,”
and people who think, “I’m already happy, but I want to go further,”

their actions before the market are probably quite different.

Can you wait?

Can you watch and see?

On days when nothing happens, can you stay still?

And—and

before the market, are you hoping the market will save your life?
I want to continue this story a little longer.