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Discipline and Devotion

No issue so pervades the trading psychology literature as that of “discipline”. It is very common for traders to lay their plans and define their setups, only to find that their actions undermine their careful preparation.
A good deal of the advice dispensed by trading coaches and psychologists addresses this discipline problem.
But what if the lack of discipline is not a problem? What if we view departures from trading plans and intentions as *information*, not as weakness? As it turns out, those departures can be quite informative.
You see, we naturally gravitate toward the nexus of our values (interests), talents (native abilities), and skills (acquired competencies). On average, we tend to enjoy doing what we’re good at and we tend to build skills when there is a foundation of talents to support them. The artist who spends long hours at the canvas doesn’t have to draw upon “discipline” to sustain an interest in painting. The hard work is hard play: the discipline stems from a devotion to a craft–and to the ability of that craft to crystallize the artists’ interests, talents, and skills. (more…)