To help you with your self-assessment, Dr. Tharp developed a quick 17-point questionnaire you can use to evaluate yourself. Take it and pass it on to your friends; I’m sure you’ll all get some insights into your performance. Answer each question with true or false.

1. I have a written business plan to guide my trading/investing. ____
2. I understand the big picture about what the market isdoing and what is affecting it. ____
3. I am totally responsible for my trading results, and as as result I can correct my mistakes continually. (If either part is false, all of this statement is false.) ____
4. I honestly can say that I do a good job of letting my profits run and cutting my losses short. ____
5. I have three trading strategies that I can use that fit the big picture. ____
6. For trading strategy 1 I have collected an R-multiple distribution of at least 50 trades (i.e., from historical data or live trading). If you don’t know what an R-multiple distribution is, which you’ll learn later in this book, you haven’t collected one, so answer “False.” ____
7. For trading strategy 2 I have collected an R-multiple distribution of at least 50 trades (i.e., from historical data or live trading). ____
8. For trading strategy 3 I have collected an R-multiple distribution of at least 50 trades (i.e., from historical data or live trading). ____
9. For each of my trading strategies, I know the expectancy and the standard deviation of the distribution. ____
10. For each of my strategies, I know the types of markets in which they work and in which they don’t work. ____
11. I trade my strategies only when the current market type is one in which the strategies will work. ____
12. I have clear objectives for my trading. I know what I can tolerate in terms of drawdowns, and I know what I want to achieve this year. ____
13. Based on my objectives, I have a clear position sizing strategy to meet those objectives. ____
14. I totally understand that I am the most important factor in my trading, and I do more work on myself than on any other aspect of my trading/investing. ____
15. I totally understand my psychological issues and work on them regularly. ____
16. I do the top tasks of trading on a regular basis. ____
17. I consider myself very disciplined as a trader/investor. ____

Give yourself one point for each true answer. Be honest with yourself.

Fill in your score here_______

HOW TO EVALUATE YOURSELF AS TRADER

• 14 or more. You have the makings of a great trader/investor and probably do well in the markets.
• 10–13. You have a lot of potential but probably are making some major mistakes; for many of you, these may be psychological mistakes.
• 7–9. You are way above average but haven’t graduated to the big leagues yet. You are like a high school football star trying to move to the NFL.
• 4–6. You are better than the average investor on the street but have a long way to go to hone your skills. You probably need to work on yourself, your discipline, and your trading strategies.
• 3 or less. You represent the average trader/investor. You probably want someone to tell you exactly what to do and expect to make big profits now; when it doesn’t  happen, you look for a better advisor or guru to help you. Guess what? It doesn’t work that way. If you answered “True” to questions 3 and 12, you have some potential and, if you are willing to commit yourself to excellence, could move to the top of the scale in a few years.