Yes, You Can!
Even though trading is so very challenging, you can do it! The market doesn’t care where you went to school, who your father is or isn’t, what country club you belong to, your past stardom as a college athlete, or your IQ. But the right path to success does matter. The daily rehearsal, practice, thinking, trade talking, and review are crucial. You must embrace the mindset to improve every day, build from your strengths, and develop your PlayBook. That’s why, and I hope you agree, that this is an important book for your trading development.
Martin Seligman teaches us in his wonderful book Learned Optimism that we should absorb difficult events, such as mine described earlier, and learn to look beyond the hardship to recognize those moments in our life that appear catastrophic and to embrace them as opportunities to open our minds for the good that could follow next. And I found the good. I found The PlayBook.
Rogue Traderette, a terrific blog run by an Aussie woman, notes the difference between optimism of the common glass-is-half-full kind to what she considers to be real optimism:
- Real optimism is the ability to attribute the good stuff to “that’s how life is” and the bad stuff to “that’s how things are [at] this moment, but not forever.
We did make it through the storm. We did find a solution, which perhaps you can learn from. We are stronger than ever. Tomorrow can be better than yesterday. Our traders improved, our work developing traders was recognized, and we built a new and stronger office with everything new, developing, underperforming, or even experienced traders need to excel.
Developing your Playbook will be a personal journey of trader rehearsal. Your goal should be to improve to become a Consistently Profitable Trader (CPT) and then a YBT. Focus unrelentingly on what setups make the most sense to you. Your storms will come, but you can persevere and find your path to becoming a stronger trader.