Lesson 11: Steps Toward Self Improvement

Learning is a journey. Learning how to trade is not easy. Resilience and persistence are a must for success. Science has helped in developing techniques that we can use to speed up our learning process.

We can adopt specific strategies in our trading that will make it easier to understand how markets work. This short lesson will cover some steps that we can use to enhance our trading performance deliberately.

Self-improvement, personal development, self-inquiry, and personal growth are lifelong healing ventures. Personal development is a lifelong task. It is a way for people to evaluate their skills and character traits, consider their targets in life and set tangible goals to realize and maximize their potential.

Mastery in trading is based on how fast we can improve ourselves. An improvement in our character results in an improvement in the trading arena. Just like athletics, trading too is a performance field that requires consistent training before any meaningful result.

Plan your trading career

If someone asked you to invest in your trading business and then presented results that match your trading results, a trading process that you display, and a work ethic that looks like yours, would you invest in that person’s trading?

I can bet real money that most traders won’t have a perfect answer for this question. Many people start trading without any concrete development plan. In any field, we begin as newbies before graduating to the intermediate level, and finally, we attain mastery.

In trading, we have to think of ourselves in the same light. We need to develop a strategic plan on how to evolve from the newbie stage to mastery. Writing down tangible goals on each level will help in solidifying the evidence.

For the newbie, developing a working framework for markets is the first goal. A profitable trading system and methodology will mark progress for the newbie. Learning to understand the historical context of markets, risk management, and position sizing are some of the targets.

At the intermediate level, we are concerned with understanding ourselves and the nature of markets. Understanding ourselves will help us in positioning and fine-tuning our trading system. At this point, gathering up a small track record will allow for the next level.

After mastery, capital scale-up is the goal. It’s at this point that we can make millions in the game.

Exercise

We know that regular exercise is good for our health. As traders, we can improve our trading performance by adopting a normal exercise routine. Some of the meta-skills we can gain from exercise include discipline and efficiency.

Our minds will also be alert since fitness helps our brain cells. Less screen time can also be attained when we have other things to occupy our time. We can achieve mastery in trading through many techniques.

Find a purpose and motivation

To succeed as traders we need to find a strong interest in and commitment to trading. Having a strong motivation and purpose is a very important ingredient in achieving and sustaining trading success.

Motivation gives us the enegergy needed to be engaged in actions required to achieve deep levels of knowlede and skill.

Strong motivation is a component of resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and keep going in the face of adversity.

Purpose is the reason for doing somethig. Our purpose is ultimately determined by our values. Positive motivation is when we move towards a desired outcome.

Here are questions that can help us develop our purpose;

1. Why did you start trading?
2. What was it about trading that particularly attracted you?
3. What do you want from your trading?
4. What do you enjoy about trading?
5. Why is trading or being a trader important to you?