Archives of “personal goals” tag

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The way to learn

  
  Education
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Learning to trade is not very different from learning any other discipline. It takes a lot of efforts and finding the right teachers. At some level of experience, the best teacher for you will be you, but before such level is reached having someone to show you the direction of least resistance is priceless.

For example, in his early years, one of the most notorious composers ever –  Mozart, imitated and mimicked the work of others. From their lessons, later in his life, he gradually builds his own unique style. This is a common path to success in music. Common path to success in trading.

In music first you learn the notes. Then you try to replay other guys’ compositions until one day you start to compose in your own unique style. In trading, first you learn the basics of supply and demand, some common market anomalies and basic market psychology. Then you read about other, already successful, people’s methods and try to mimic them until one day you become experienced enough to create your own style of trading that satisfy you financial and personal goals best. These are three different levels of expertese in each field and they should be mastered in the mentioned sequence.

The way to learn

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

Learning to trade is not very different from learning any other discipline. It takes a lot of efforts and finding the right teachers. At some level of experience, the best teacher for you will be you, but before such level is reached having someone to show you the direction of least resistance is priceless.

For example, in his early years, one of the most notorious composers ever –  Mozart, imitated and mimicked the work of others. From their lessons, later in his life, he gradually builds his own unique style. This is a common path to success in music. Common path to success in trading.

In music first you learn the notes. Then you try to replay other guys’ compositions until one day you start to compose in your own unique style. In trading, first you learn the basics of supply and demand, some common market anomalies and basic market psychology. Then you read about other, already successful, people’s methods and try to mimic them until one day you become experienced enough to create your own style of trading that satisfy you financial and personal goals best. These are three different levels of expertese in each field and they should be mastered in the mentioned sequence.

Seven essentials needed to become a competent trader

  
  Education
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  1. Have a vision about your trading. Understand why you trade. It is never just about the money. Money can be had in any endeavor. Develop perspective on why trading is so important to you and what characteristics you want to possess that distinguish you as a trader. Be clear on these. This is motivating, and helps you to keep committed to your personal goals when things become difficult. Trading is a tough business with lots of adversity. If you haven’t got a clear sense of what you are all about in your trading, you will find trading very difficult.
  2. Make a commitment to your vision and turn it into a daily mission. Put into daily practice what you need to do to reach your goals. Put the work in even when other things that are more ‘fun’ or appealing tempt you to get off track. Do these every day, day after day and don’t let up. Keep a journal and track your progress — not just on the money, but more importantly, on your personal progress as you grow and develop into a competent trader. It’s the only way to become good and eventually great at trading.
  3. Know what you can control and what you can’t. You can’t control whether a trade is a winner or a loser. You can control how you react to the market. Before you can become a consistent trader, you must first control how you respond to the market and your actions. We can always be in control of ourselves and how we act. Being able to regulate our actions has a lot to do with how we see ourselves as a trader and our vision for ourselves.
  4. Focus on the process of trading rather than the outcomes of your trades. You can control how you select your trades, set risk, enter, manage, and exit your trades. You can never control how they will turn out. Place your attention on what you can control – the process of trading, not the outcomes. The process is where you can make a difference.
  5. Develop the necessary mental skills to trade well. Technical skills are important, but so are mental skills. Spend time learning how to stay focused on the present moment. Learn how to ‘mentally park’ losses and trading errors. Learn how to let winning trades run and cut losing trades short. These are all crucial mental skills that are not found in reading the MACD or price bars.
  6. Practice your trading. A major league baseball player doesn’t just show up at the ball park and expect to play well; traders shouldn’t expect to just show up at the screen and trade well either. It takes serious, dedicated practice to develop excellence.
  7. Make one trade at a time. Keep your focus on this trade and this trade only. Bring all of your knowledge, skills, and abilities into focus on the current trade. Let previous trades and future trades go – they have nothing to do with the current trade.

Step Into Personal Empowerment

  
Analysis, Education
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Accepting ownership of consequences and balancing responsibility with your own personal goals lets you overcome stress, enabling you to making empowering decisions.

1) Awareness

Become aware of how you are in any given context. Look for a pattern. Be honest with yourself and recognise the pattern. Recognising and admitting you have a pattern that you would like to change is the courageous first step to self-actualisation.

2) Analysis

The next thing to do is to examine the engine of this pattern. What are the fears and the behaviours that keep this pattern alive? When do they kick in? What are you thinking? What do you believe? What is the stress you feel?

3) Action

The final step is to change it. What do you want? What needs to change? What do you need to believe in order to bring out that confident person inside you?

Decisions are your stepping stones through life. Some stepping stones can be wobbly and if you are on a wobbly one and not enjoying it, there is another stepping stone close by waiting for you to recognise it and hop on.

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