Sticking With Cramer and Discipline

You know why many amateurs hate me? Because my methods sometimes require you to lose money short term!

First, making mistakes is part of the game. Some of my losses are just stocks gone wrong -- and I have a ton of them. That's what a professional knows but doesn't talk about, mistakes.

But my style is a unique style, taught to me by Michael Steinhardt and the late Larry Tisch, to buy on the way down because companies get cheaper as their stocks go down.

I have been shocked at how many people wanted to buy Tuesday when an Apple (AAPL - commentary - Cramer's Take) is up $10 or $15. That's simply not my style. I am a seller up $10 or $15. That just seems logical to me.

It seems logical because I would have picked at the stock, making small buys, on the way down. That's what I do. The momentum players and often the chartists sell on the way down, sell low. And then they come in and buy at prices higher than what I pay.

As the market gets more oversold, I grow more bullish. They grow more bearish. As the market goes higher, I grow more bearish -- I say constantly, "Take off half," or, "Scale out into strength."

But if you bought Friday and Monday, as I did for Action Alerts PLUS, you are going to lose money on paper. That doesn't bother me. That's what I know to do.

Now, there are also lots of people who believe that I have "lost it," for so many reasons having to do with everything from a lack of caring to a lack of homework. People who know me, I mean really know me, have a very good sense of how I have refused to slow down and work just as hard as I have always to the vast detriment of pretty much everything else. That's probably one of the reasons I take the criticism on Stockpickr so personally, because anyone who banks on work being a salvation is never going to be saved -- but I have been blessed (cursed?) with a ridiculous work ethic.

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Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. Click here to order Cramer's latest book, "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order his book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by clicking here.

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