Stock trading is never easy, but it is simple. By far the biggest hurdle faced by traders is we tend to make everything complicated and that’s one of the reasons why most traders fail. If you want to succeed in trading, you need to be brave enough and have the courage to stand any test that comes with your trading journey. We don’t have any perfect roadmaps, but the ability to have the following attitude could make a difference:
Be at peace with MONEY
A trader asked me: what did you do to get used to trading big amounts?
My Answer: Train yourself to have no emotional attachment to money.
The more you are chasing money, the more you’ll have a hard time trading objectively and at your best state. Often, traders are affected by each tick, each up, each down, and that leads them to trading errors. Our emotions get the best of us if we are focused on the absolute amounts.
You need to put yourself into a position where you just execute and focus on “trading best”. I think you will only reach your true potential if you are in a ZEN like flow.
Let the market come to you and your system, don’t chase it. Have no emotional attachment to money.
You have to remember that “money” is just a by-product, the result of your actions. Focus on your strategy and your trade, you will see that money will just naturally follow.
Be brave enough to have the right MINDSET.
While its true that one of the reasons why we wanted to do stock trading is to take profit from investing, there’s still an entire world from it beyond the prison of money or revenue streams. The ability to follow your trading system will help you digest the trading process and it helps you to intertwine and accept a variety of rules for different market conditions.
Having the right mindset is when you don’t let your emotions eat you. Winnings and losses are normal and part of trading. Having a plan for success trades and readjusting goals when negative portfolio hits you is highly important. Here are the essential rules to cultivating your trading growth mindset to help you achieve success:
- Journal everything
- Pick your trades like you would your life partner
- Keep refining your strategy and make it work for you
- Be your harshest critic
- Take what works for you and ignore what doesn’t
Be brave enough to LEARN from your mistakes.
When was the last time that you put everything in your journal? Not just the winning trades, but also the losing ones. Sometimes we’re too focused on winning, that we forgot the essence of losing. Profits are just confirmation of the right thing you do. Losses, on the other hand, unleashed the best trader in you. It’s when you lose that you start to learn something. It’s in that losses that make you feel, “I don’t want to happen this again.” “How can I make myself a better trader? What’s wrong? What do I need to change/improve in my system?” “How can I prevent from making the mistake I made?”
Instead of seeing it as a failure, why not treat this trade as a stepping stone for you to become a better trader? Failures aren’t failures at all. You have to see the good in them because it’s what will lead you to success.
Experience will always be the best teacher! It’s those hardships that will make you stronger.
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. ~ Thomas A. Edison
We are afraid to get out of our comfort zone. We’re too contented living inside our shells that we just wondered what it is like to be in the real battle?
When you got that exciting feeling you can’t seem to explain, or understand why such thing happens? Don’t think otherwise. You are now prepared for the battle. When you start to have that boiling blood running in your veins and at the same time you feel afraid. This is your signal! Go for whatever it is!
Enough of that reading materials and seminars, enough of that strategy you tested a couple of times ago. Enough of that backtesting and paper trades. Enough of procrastination, this is where you should go. You’ve prepared, and you’re not born to be that way. Take that action and trade the real way. The game must start now and this is where you’ll be bolder. You’ll never know what you’re capable of until it happened. You’ll never know if you’re good enough if you won’t going to apply it to yourself.
When things go wrong and everything just seems to go against your world, take a moment and try to separate yourself. Respect that sometimes, good things don’t always happen. There will be bad trades; there will be bad day. There will be bad companies and there will be a ‘bad’ you. So respect yourself and accept that you’re a just a human. Respect that you also get tired. Physically, emotionally and mentally. You’re not a clock tickling day and night. Respect what’s your inner you is telling you. Spend time with your loved ones, there will always be a next time. You can always make it right. Just not now, maybe soon you will.
I want you all to be brave enough in everything.
Only the strong ones last in trading.
If you’re going to succeed in life, then don’t give up.
Keep grinding, everyone!
