BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR RIGHT: TOP TIPS TO CHANGE YOUR TRADING PERSPECTIVE

BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR RIGHT: CHANGE

For the first few weeks and maybe months, we can still regard the year as being new, and therefore even avail the opportunity to make progress on any resolutions whatsoever, and also hone one’s focus just a little more. In other words, as at this moment, you can still initiate real change in anything you are doing, such that the dream of attainting the next level wouldn’t be a forgotten tale. Change, they say, is ubiquitous.

However, change is one broad term, wherefore the need to be not only intentional but also specific. We must define what type of change we are talking about. As it comes in several forms, including change in relationships, residence, body size, health, and so on, we must identify what change we are referring to.

Overall, after proper observation, you will realize that nothing in its entirety remains stagnant. Even as humans, we are changing – it’s either we progress of we regress. Nobody actually stands still, even though some moments in life might make us want to believe such.

Another thing you need to consider is the possibility of designing your growth (read as change). Someone once said, “If the rate of change outside of your organization is greater than the rate of change inside your organization, then the end is in sight.” And evidently, this can also be applied to each person. One must reflect on how much change he or she has experienced over a specific period, i.e., rate of change. Factually, this is one of the variables that affect you the most. We have encountered young persons who, albeit at their young age, have made more life-affecting decisions that their grandparents did in their lifetime. Also, another thing is to be conscious of “how” you’re changing. You should exercise, at least to some considerable extent, control over anything that happens to you.Quickly, let us examine a few principles and concepts of change, and also the best applications of these principles to improve one’s overall well-being and sense of control.

Know that change isn’t an option

Change is omnipresent – it is everywhere. Change happens to you, around you, and in you. Those who live fulfilled lives can be said to have embraced change via personal leadership. These set of people are intentional about how and by what means they are growing (read as changing). They take responsibility and accountability for every result they get from their forex, futures, and stock trades. These people already understand that change isn’t an option but a compulsory phase of life that they continually pass through. Consequently, they practice techniques, methods, strategies, and tools to handle their development and also get a grip on unpredictable things.

Focus on skill-building

Until you understand and agree that skill-building is one necessity you need to have, not only for trading and investing in the financial market but for living, then you might not achieve anything worthwhile. Cut the slack, and let’s face it – skills are not inborn; you build and hone them. And you also need to understand the difference between talent and skill.

Nevertheless, even if you are born with talent, it is still highly essential that you hone and develop such a talent via skill-building. So, in the end, it all boils down to building your skill.

Pay attention to your choices

In life, it is either you are a victor or a victim. To be a victor, you need to manage your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, while victims are simply individuals who have fallen prey to change. The choice is yours. Pay keen attention to the choices you make. You must choose to be a leader, take the bull by the horn, and design your destiny yourself. Do not rush, take your time to asses your beliefs and values, and after that, set routine goals – daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly – to secure your path of success.

Know what drives change

The explosion of information is one critical factor influencing the rate of change. And consequently, to remain relevant and competitive in the market, you need to increase the base of your knowledge continuously.

Also, the eruption of technology is one of the causes of information explosion, which ultimately increases the rate at which knowledge is growing. A perfect example is your trading platform. Recall the series of changes that have happened in the space of one year, and things are getting both more straightforward as well as complex to use.

Knowing these elements to be the drivers of change is a critical principle of change. And it also means that you must continually hone your skills if you actually want to remain competitive in the markets.

Embrace flexibility

To remain in front, you must know how to diffract around obstacles. Your ability to not only accept, but also adjust and respond to situations is vital. In other words, you must have a high level of adaptability and even realize that the process of growth is gradual – sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. At the same time, the mistakes and failures you make are lessons to be learned and opportunities to seize.

Question Your choices

Be curious about your choices. Ask yourself appreciative questions just to be sure you are making the right choice. Ask questions that seek to know if there are any decisions you have made in the past that you would want to make over and over again, questions that seek answers to ways you can scale through a particular situation, questions that ups your thirst for new trade strategies, and so on.

Providing answers to these questions and other related questions too will help you to reevaluate yourself, your position, relationships, markets, and so on. Remember, whatever positive attribute that has uplifted you to your current position isn’t sufficient enough to keep you there. Stepping out of your comfort zone is a prerequisite for growth.

Continually better your self-awareness

You must better your scope and your level of awareness as you move forward. This way, you will aforehand know issues and also the available means of solving these issues.

Know that every challenge is an opportunity

You need to start accepting that every challenge is an opportunity for you to explore, learn, and perhaps get better at what you do.

Be proactive

Being proactive is one sure way of keeping yourself always ready to address challenges, as you already anticipate what and where things can go wrong and effectively avert such an issue whenever possible.

As you grow in skill and knowledge, ensure that you practice the techniques and tools that you have learned. This way, you will be able to take absolute control of your growth not only as a trader but also as a human.

BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR RIGHT: TRADE ACCOUNTABILITY

As much as it may not be possible to start the year with an entirely clean slate, you may become resolute in changing for the better in your forex, futures, and stock trading. It is now a regular thing for humans to make resolutions at the start of every year, and even before the end of January, the first month, many of these resolutions have been abandoned. This is yet another testament that humans are fond of doing the exact opposite of what they might have said in the past.

However, as much as we can’t feign oblivion of the fact that it is quite hard to abide by resolutions, it is obviously in the best of our interests and the interest of our trading and investing in the financial market. To get the results you want, this new year, it is vital that you make accountability a top priority on your list of changes you crave.

Accountability is a product of self-discipline. So, if you haven’t been planning your forex, futures, and stock trades, and following your plans and rules to the letter, and also keeping up with your commitments, then starting with how you have or haven’t been accountable isn’t the best. In other words, before you can begin to hold yourself accountable, you need to have portrayed a reasonable level of self-discipline.

To make the necessary redirects in your trading and investing activities, you have to be willing to take an in-depth look into what you are doing and also those things you are not doing, which in turn is responsible for your trading implosions.

Several traders and investors are operating under the wrong belief that almost all of their issues are as a result of someone or something outside of themselves. However, first, these traders and investors fail to realize that they are at the right place to be at every moment in time. For instance, let’s assume you stumbled upon a new strategy with guaranteed results. And as typical, you bought and started using such an approach. However, while implementing this so-called “can’t lose” procedure, you were filled with distractions, maybe by your wife or kids. And instead of checking to ensure that all is well with your trade setups, you went right ahead to place the trade with the hope that you will profit from it. More often than not, these kinds of trades end up in losses. Well, that was well-deserving. That is to say, going by the circumstances and conditions presented to you during that particular trading process, the result you got was what you deserve; that is, you centered your reliance on external variables such as news, friends, internet programs, and so on. Your communication with your kids or spouse was in a way that they failed to realize your need for peace and tranquility during your period of trading. You, by yourself, disregarded essential facts surrounding your trading environment which led to you being frustrated and confused.

One fundamental law of the Universe is that of “cause and effect.” This explains that for every motion you set, there is a corresponding effect. For instance, if you attempt to shed weight, then you have to take intentional and guided efforts towards succeeding in such an attempt.

The effects of your failure to be accountable for every result achieved, not even in trading alone, results in you blaming circumstances and outside forces. You find yourself regularly feeding your ego, seducing yourself into believing that you are not at fault. And this, in itself, is the beginning of perpetual failure.

The dictionary meaning of being accountable is “being held to account for an outcome.’ Also, the word “responsible” takes a similar definition. However, we as an online trading academy take a different view in this regard – we will explain.

To be responsible, according to us, is to have someone choose you to be a person who is capable of responding to an issue, situation, or event. However, on the contrary, to be accountable means to be held to account for the outcomes that have transpired. We can be responsible for the failure of a trade, but at the same time, we might not be willing to take account of it. That we are responsible doesn’t denote that we need to do something to ensure that we make use of the feedback from past and present outcomes to make better decisions in subsequent trade processes. Nature-wise, to be responsible is more passive, while accountability is more active.

What then do these definitions mean for your trades? Well, they say everything!

They mean that you are responsible for all of your forex,futures, and stock trades. They say that if you execute a trade, then you must own such a trade. However, that doesn’t, at the same time, mean that you must hold yourself accountable for the results. Over time, we as an online trading academy have experienced a few traders and investors who blamed everything but themselves for businesses that pertain to their results. And consequently, they tend to look outside of themselves for answers to their shortcomings and issues.

Another thing is that these categories of traders tend to populate their charts with several tools and indicators such that the price action loses visibility. All these as well, are signs of lack of integrity and alignment in trading. It also signifies a failed approach towards the achievement of long-term objectives.

Albeit, to be consistently successful, you need to be self-aware while trading and investing in the financial market. That is to say, you must be intentionally focused, especially on what matters most in such trade. In other words, you are in the moment for the moment – wholly available and present in the “now” of such a trade.

Being self-aware also denotes that your emotions, behaviors, and thoughts are under accurate tracking. Believe it or not, these internal variables are the main drive of your executions. No matter the extent of your knowledge, if your internal variables are confused, conflicting, and confounded, then you are most likely not going to execute your trades according to your plan. This implies that you need to be highly vigilant and diligent about what is going on both outside and inside of you. You must be ready to be accountable for everything, including your emotions, behaviors, and thoughts, at every trading juncture.

An accountable trader and investoris more susceptible to discovering what works and what isn’t working, both in the internal levels such as those that surface in their trading, and also external levels such as strategies, set-ups, protocols, and so on. Obviously, you won’t be able to identify what works and what doesn’t work if you are not documenting all that has to do with market information – external/mechanical data – via a Trade Log, and their internal data – thoughts, behaviors, and emotions – via the Thought Journals. This, alone in itself, is real accountability.

Conclusion

As we keep exhausting the new year, ensure that you are positioned in such a way that you can burst on the New Year Scene with emerging resolves that will aid the honing of your A-Game. It is no longer news that your life reflects considerably on your trading. So, for someone who doesn’t keep commitments in his or her own life, how can such a person keep commitments in trading? That is to say, mastering the process isn’t just for your trading; instead, you must also set sights for a new resolve in the New Year. This, too, is an affirmation that you have mastered your mental game.

So, take charge of your processes in this New Year. Firstly, begin to hold yourself accountable for every result you achieve, and after that, remain self-aware. You should know that it is only things that you know that you can effect a change for. What you don’t know, you can’t change them.

Doing all of these will take you closer to your A-Game. And over time, you will begin to get the results that deep down you know you can and deserve.

May the New Year usher in prosperity, love, joy, happiness, and peace to you and your family. Amen

If you want to learn more about professional trading and investing across multiple asset classes such as forex, futures, and stocks, please sign up HERE for free at our online trading academy www.onlinetradingcampus.com and get access to a free three-hour introductory course.

Happy trading!

Author Bio: Bernd Skorupinski teaches the undiluted truth about trading and investing at Online Trading Campus and takes you through what it takes to be a consistently successful trader. His favorite moment as a trading mentor is the way peoples’ eyes light up with excitement and confidence when they understand how Supply and Demand trading strategy works and how it can help win in the trading arena. He believes in building core values and discipline that ensures his students do not succumb to the pressures and temptations of the market. He very much believes in following plans and strategy through. If you want to know more about the author Bernd Skorupinski please read HERE