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Repetition Repetition Repetition

  
  Education
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In Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code we learn the three rules of deep practice.  Rule number two is Repeat It.

“Nothing you can do – talking, thinking, reading, imagining- is more effective in building skill than executing the action, firing the impulse down the nerve fiber, fixing errors, honing the circuit.”

This explanation reveals why it is impossible to transfer trading prowess from one person to another.  You can’t talk, think, read, or imagine your way to elite performance.  The key lies in the “doing”, going through the motions.  Now that’s not to say talking or reading about trading isn’t helpful.  It is.  I pick up tons of insight from talking with other investors and traversing the trading blogosphere.  I’m like a hungry orphan hiding below the tables of successful traders just hoping they’ll drop a few morsels of wisdom I can chew on.  Yet it’s not a substitute for “executing the action”.  Nothing replaces sitting in front of my computer, monitoring positions, assessing  potential trades and most importantly pulling the trigger. (more…)

Traits of the Successful Trader

  
  Education
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1. Find the plays that make the most sense to you.

Build from your unique personality.  Some traders will make a career of momentum trading, killing anything that is moving.  They could care less about a balance sheet or even the actual full name of the symbols they trade.   They just want to play and are damn good at it.   Some will find this intellectually suffocating.  They will want to trade all the markets, reading as much about as many longer term opportunities as possible.  This fits their inner need to learn, think, and grow intellectually.  Both are totally acceptable save if the momo trader is forced to trade macro plays.

2. Spend as much time trading, thinking about trading and talking about trading as you can possible stand.

The past years have gifted us a treasure of research on elite performance which provides a clear path for our success.  Time at our craft, experience, practice, reps gained determining plays are the road to successful trading.  Put down Boring New Book About Some New System You Do Not Understand and start reading The Talent Code, Bounce, Talent is Overrated, Mindset, Drive, Outliers, The Art of Learning.

3. Find a GREAT mentor.

And I do not mean necessarily at a trading firm.  Before Dr. Steenbarger went off-line and joined one of the great hedge funds of our time, I peppered him with questions.  Phil Mickelson, considered one of our greatest golfers ever, has three coaches watching his game.  Peyton Manning has a head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterback coach, and father providing him feedback.   There is little evidence of elite performers reaching their potential without high level coaching.

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