I have an Electronics Engineering background and started trading because I wanted a career change and early retirement.

When I decided to learn to trade I took the easy path and completed many trading courses. I also read many books, I downloaded and watched hundreds of videos and spent many months testing different strategies and EA's.

I did the trading courses because I wanted to learn to trade the proper way but as I found out the courses were not what I needed, were of little value and mostly a waste of money. I found that there is no substitute for experience, there are no shortcuts in this business. In order to become consistently profitable I needed the experience, I needed chart time, I needed to feel the charts I had to spend hundreds and hundreds of hours looking at the charts and studying them day and night.

If you are a new trader you should know that there is a lot of free material out there so you don't need to pay thousands of $'s for courses. Watching videos on Youtube is a good start but becoming a good trader requires a LOT of effort so you must put in the time or you won't succeed. Trading is easy but most people lose money. We've all lost money in the beginning. There is a lot of material to cover and becoming familiar with everything will take time. In the beginning you'll suffer from information overload but don't give up. Give yourself time to absorb all the information while you trade and develop your trading strategy. Don't jump from strategy to strategy. Find 1 you like and master it. Read this: http://www.forexschoolonline.com/make-money-one-price-action-setup-at-a-time-true-story/


AND SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT
This might come as a shock to you, but even the best traders have losing trades. How we deal with those losers is what separates the consistent winning traders from the rest. HAVE A GOOD PLAN FOR YOUR LOSING TRADES.

When you trade, try and stay objective. Having an opinion as to the value of a currency pair can be lethal. Use facts and price action to determine the direction of the market and don't use your opinion (or someone else's).

By the way, there is nothing wrong with a few indicators on your charts if they give you an edge. Trading from a naked chart is ideal but you will need to understand price action and where liquidity sits on the charts, you'll need to be VERY familiar with the pairs you trade and to understand why price moves.
Read up on liquidity, Supply and demand and order flow.

Having online friends can be helpful too but if you enter chat rooms or you are chatting with friends on skype, try and stay focused, remember that people are different and they will have their own trading strategy so they will be trading differently. Following them and going Long or Short at a particular time might not suit your strategy. Stick to your trading plan and Don't lose your objectivity.

TRADING IS EASY BUT IT CAN TAKE A WHILE TO UNDERSTAND IT, KEEP TRYING TILL YOU GET IT.

DON'T GIVE UP, - Have faith in yourself. What if everything you thought you were, and were capable of, were not true?
- WHAT IF WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF, IS FAR BEYOND MEASURE?

YOU CAN DO IT, BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
If you like to win, but think you can't, then it is almost certain that you won't win.
The only thing standing between ourselves and our goal are the excuses we come up with, as to why we can't do it.

OF COURSE IT ISN'T EASY BUT IT CAN BE DONE.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, IF WE REALLY WANT TO SUCCEED, WE WILL HAVE TO SPEND THE TIME AND DO THE WORK.

On youtube you'll find a video by Arnold Schwarzenegger titled "Who do YOU want to be in life?
I found it very inspirational.
Watch it you'll enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH0nP4NzS9M