When it comes to developing a skill, time is an important variable: training time, reflection time, practice time. If the skill in question has to do with trade in financial marketswe will need time to analyze the development of the price, to record our operations, to take notes, to statistically control the results, to reflect on our progress or lack of progress…
But time, although important, is not the determining variable. Some people believe that it is enough to invest time in something for the skill to develop properly, but this is not the case. You could be doing something wrong for a long time and that would not necessarily lead to success.
You have to invest time, that’s a fact, but you have to do it in a certain way. Many traders have spent hundreds or thousands of hours in front of their screens, but they haven’t gotten the most out of them. Why? because they have neglected a fundamental element: the right attitude.
And it is not so much a question of time as of the attitude that we keep during that time. Now that the London 2012 Olympic Games are taking place, a study on the difference between athletes who make it to the Olympic team and other athletes who, despite being tremendously good, don’t, comes to mind. I read that it is not so much about the hours of training, both groups may be spending the same time, nor is it about food, rest or intelligence, nor is it about the coaches, both the components of the Olympic team and those who fight to be in it often share the same coaches, instead it is about the attitude. The study in question demonstrated that the difference between the results of one group and the other was due to the attitude with which they practiced.
In developing the skill necessary to win in the Bag something similar happens: it is not so much spending hours in front of the screen, as the attitude of that training time. Do you keep your mind on what you are doing, or are you distracted by other things? Is the market developing a slow leg and your mind gets bored so you check your email, or are you analyzing each price move to fit it into a global understanding of what may be happening? Do you review the operations that you have carried out throughout the day to “comply” with your obligations, or are you really interested in finding differences and details that can favor your development?
not develop the attitude Right to the market is the equivalent of swinging on a seesaw: you may feel like you’re moving, but you won’t get very far.
For this reason it is important to be in the market only the time in which you can sustain your attitude in maximum concentration. If you start to get distracted, bored, or your thoughts jump from the market to other matters, you should cease in your operations for the day. More sleazy time is train the bug. It won’t take you anywhere you want to go… It’s not about forcing yourself, bending your mind, or doing something by force, no. All of this is emotionally negative and you want to be in front of the screen relaxed and flowing, not from suffering but from activation and adequate involvement.
My recommendation is that you commit to only being in the market as long as you can sustain that type of attitude to be present and flowing. Maybe at first you limit yourself to 5 minutes, then progress to 10 and then 15… It seems like a short time and surely it is much less than what you think you need to dedicate to your trading, but in reality it is not more time, but of Best time. If your commitment is to your success, you will get more out of 15′ of maximum concentration than four hours distracted and at half throttle. Later on you will beat your personal best…you will eventually get to one hour and then two, but it is important to make sure you can maintain the proper attitude.
If you find yourself thinking about other things, or wanting to do something other than being in the market, stop. Get away from the screen. Take a 5 or 10 minute break. If you later see that you want to be in front of the screen again, return and if you are not up for the task, do something different. You will have time to operate when your mind is on what you are doing.
This path is slow at first and fast afterwards, and will lead you to develop an exceptional level of performance. Forcing yourself to spend hours in front of the screen when your heart is not engaged in what you are doing will be counterproductive and will stall your progress.