“What gets measured gets managed”
“If life is worth living, it’s worth recording”
Before 2014, I had never kept a journal. All emotions, mistakes, lessons and energy remained within. Often this lead to a drastic amount of self-torture and self sabotage. One of the most paramount aspects within trading is to AVOID making the same mistakes over and over again. I wasn’t recording my trades, so guess what I happened, I screwed up doing the same things over and over, expecting a different result; which is literally the definition of insanity. I was fighting myself daily as the negative thoughts kept circling. In my mind, the common theme was “you suck, how could you do that AGAIN?”. Nothing was going to change unless I did. At a point it got so painful that I had literally no choice but to CHANGE. I knew nothing would change unless I did, so I started reading self-development books in tandem with articles. I found that a common denominator among successful traders and entrepreneurs was that they kept a journal, so I started.
IT WAS CATHARTIC FROM THE BEGINNING:
Now my thoughts, emotions and trades were on paper. I review the Journal entries daily to ensure that I am absorbing as much as I can. Who wants to repeat mistakes in trading? NOBODY, it’s frustrating and makes you want to throw your computer like a football. Naturally as I started recording my trades, I got better rather quickly. I knew what setups I was capitalizing on, and the mistakes that caused immense amounts of fiscal and mental pain. The last place I wanted to be was where I was before. There are many ways to do this, you can use Evernote, hand written, software to record your screens during the day, powerpoint, excel or all of the above. I find when I get everything out there, I not only trade better but I feel better about what I am doing and know why I am doing it, Categorize your trades, see what times of the day you are the most efficient, see where you can go really wrong, and OWN ALL OF IT. Get accountable for every decision you make and there is very little that will get in your way besides yourself.
Great post, thank you for sharing
Excellent advise, I will definitely put this into practice. Thank you.
awesome thank you
Thanks, would love to see examples of stuff you write down. if you don’t mind.
Good article, thank you for that. Agree, having some kind of diary is a must. Either for trades (you can find out that your performance is best only in some days or hours) and for emotions (very important to trade only if a man is emotionally fit).
I would appreciate more articles like that