Mind Matters: Stop and Start

What is it that you need to change to get better at trading? What can you do to increase your profits and confidence? What is required for you to decrease your losses and your emotional swings? What do you need to stop doing? What do you need to start doing?

Answering these questions is not easy. Below you will find a simple but powerful exercise that will help you work out what you need to stop and what you need to start doing. It will also show you what you need to do more of.

Get a big notebook, one that has full pages. Number the pages of the notebook, at least the first 61 pages (handwriting is okay). Do not skip any numbers – page two should face page three, page four should faces page five and so on. On page one write your name. Leave page two blank and divide page three vertically into two columns. Put the headings “Failures” and “Successes” above the columns.

At the end of this day, before you retire, fill up this list of failures and successes as it relates to the last twenty four hours (in relation to your trading). If you neglected to do your scan or analyze your market, that would be a failure. If you watched a Trading related DVD, that would be listed as a success. Write as many things as you can think of. What did you do that brought you closer to your trading goals? What did you do that took you away from your trading goals?

The next morning on page four, make another table and complete it before your day starts. Where do you think you might succeed on this day? What may you do that will bring you closer to your trading goals? What may you do that will be a setback? This is a bit like a goal setting exercise but you are writing both the possible successes as well as possible problems ahead.

Then at the end of the second day, before you retire, fill up this list of failures and successes of your last 24 hours (in relation to your trading) on page five. Now you have a map of what you thought would happen and what actually did happen.

Repeat the exact steps the next day on the following two pages. Do this exercise as long as you can (at least for 30 days). Review your lists regularly. You will know what you need to stop doing (or do less of). You will know what you need to start doing (or do more of).

Believe, achieve

Sinan Koray
Trading Tutors Team