The Third of Six Characteristics of the Winning Trader

This is the third part of a series entitled, “The Six Characteristics of Winning Traders.”

One of the most common traits of a student of trading is to jump in, eagerly and ambitiously to the world of trading, start taking classes/webinars, reading guru newsletters, reading trading books, etc. and then to soon start to feel a bit of overwhelm.

There IS a lot to be overwhelmed by when one looks at the huge amount of information that one feels that he must absorb.

But WINNING TRADERS do something that others do not and it’s the third of the characteristics of their mental profile: THEY TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME.

Here are the 6 components of this WINNING CHARACTERISTIC:

1. They are very sensitive to reading their minds, bodies and hearts and know, immediately when they are starting to suffer from overwhelm. So what they do is separate the ultimate goal from the overall task. This means that they keep the ultimate goal of becoming a profitable, professional trader at the forefront of their brain but they do NOT focus on the amount of work that it’s going to take to get there! Anyone that DOES focus on the entire task, all at once, is, of course, going to be overwhelmed!

2. They never think about FUTURE steps. They only focus and concentrate on the steps at hand. “TODAY and one day at a time,” is their motto. Thinking or worrying about tomorrow simply sucks the energy and enthusiasm out of today.

3. They move along on their path at a ‘fair’ rate, but NOT TOO FAST. What most begging traders do is to put too much pressure on themselves by trying to learn and accomplish at a very fast (unreasonable) rate. They, when they fail, they think of themselves as losers. (This is often caused by the fact that the money that they’re using to trade with is under some type of pressure to produce. Using borrowed money is a common example.) Thus they feel compelled to set goals that are not really realistic and they do more damage than good.

4. Some beginning trader put too much pressure on themselves to ‘get to the top’ quickly and they will SKIP STEPS along the way, rationalizing that ‘they’re not important’ or saying, “I’ll get to it later!” Both approaches are wrong. Remember this: SUCCESS IS BUILT ON SUCCESS! EVERY step along the way is important and crucial to the ultimate goal.

5. Some traders are INCONSISTENT in their actions. Winning traders FOCUS on consistency of their work, their studies and the action in every trade they place. Learning to trade is a MOMENTUM game and it takes a consistent effort to truly get this new business off the ground.

6. Winning traders take the time and energy to stop and celebrate each success along the way. They derive great satisfaction from SAYING what they’re going to do then actually DOING it, displaying great self-discipline which leads, automatically to self-confidence! While they immediately FORGET their mistakes, they do RE-PLAY, in their mind, every single success, over and over again, until their subconscious mind finally accepts the fact that they are true WINNERS! They take on a justified pride!

This winning trader, then, simply takes ONES STEP AT A TIME and enjoys the voyage to success!