Greeting All,
Funny, but in my quiet moments over the years I have thought about this very question many times. Also funny is the fact that I have kept a Trading Journal from the very start, so I know that this âmelodyâ changes over the years. Iâve been journaling since High School so this process is nothing new to me. So for me personally, my current âsongâ would be to say to my beginning self:
1. To outline a Goal, a definitive Trading Plan, and a Timeline.
2. That my business of trading should be a process, and not a destination, and there is no need to rush. Godâs delays are never Godâs denials.
3. To prepare myself and my significant other, to experience a succession of emotional and financial vicissitudes. And to be sure to get her âbuy inâ into the proposal. (Made this mistake twice)
4. To prepare myself and my significant other, for what will be, extended periods of hard work, study, personal sacrifice, well beyond what I originally anticipated or expected. And to be sure to get her âbuy inâ into the proposal.
5. To seek technical counsel only from those whose words âring trueâ to my âcore trading beliefsâ, and resonate with my own thinking. While in the learning stages, to be true to who and what I am, and not try to be something that Iâm not, that I cannot force it, because it has to come from within me.
6. That there is no âmarket out thereâ, only the one that I create in my head. Because the market exchanges just transmits ticks. It is my thinking and beliefs that turn those ticks over time into bars and lines and a pattern probabilities game that I can win. And that, I create my market game, and what will eventually be my market experience, all in my head.
7. That the âmindâ and âthinking processâ that I brought into my trading, and the âmindsetâ needed for my success in trading, will be vastly different. And in some instances, the thinking process will be diametrically opposed. Be prepared to truly open my mind for the changes to come.
8. That the process of trading as I know it, is in essence; âA pattern recognition with probabilities numbers gameâ that I created in my own head. It came from the sum total of what I know about the market, my beliefs about the market, and about myself.
9. If the marketâs behavior is a mystery to me, itâs because my own thinking is also a mystery to me. I must remember that Iâm the one who created the method from the sum total of my market knowledge and beliefs.
10. If my method is confused, it is because my own thinking is confused. If my analysis is confused, it is because my own thinking regarding my analysis is confused. First cause is always mental. More importantly, to unconfuse my method or my analysis, all I need do is to unconfuse my own thinking.
11. Then finally I would say to myself; sit back and enjoy the ride pal, it still ainât finished rolling yet. There is a new me coming just around the bend.
Lurking on the ET Forum is like a trading treasure hunt, you never know what you will find or discover, but its always fun.
KDASFTG