We are on the heels of June and I’ve decided to take on a new challenge.

For the entire month of June (30 days), I’ll be taking on not 1, not 2, but 7 new habits.

I definitely like a challenge, and for me – a successful mindset requires successful habits.

Hence I decided to announce this challenge openly to you and others, sharing all the details along the way.

But before I get into the nitty-gritty details, I need to talk about habits and why they are key to your brain & success.

Why Habits Are Key To Your Success

For you to make money trading and achieve your goals, you’ll have to wire in successful habits.

But you currently have a problem. Your brain will do what it is wired to do most of the time (think 90+% on avg).

And your brain is not programmed to make money trading. So you’ll need to un/re-wire your current programming while creating a successful trading mindset.

Now how your brain is wired (wiring = habits) can be explained by one principle – neuroplasticity.

What Is Neuroplastcity?

Neuroplasticity is your brain’s ability to wire and make new connections. Its also the reason why you can unwire connections and bad habits.

There are two key terms for understanding neuroplasticity. They are:

1) SDN = self directed neuroplasticity

and

2) EDN= experience dependent neuroplasticity

To help you understand the above, just memorize the following statements:

1) Neurons that fire together wire together

and

2) Passing mental states = lasting neural traits

Now one thing that is implicit in the first statement is the following:

Neurons that fire apart wire apart

You’ve probably heard something similar in pop culture, such as the ‘use it or lose it‘ phrase. This statement is completely valid regarding your brain.

Habits are what you create by repetitive actions over a consistent period of time. Creating successful habits requires mental toughness because you’re fighting against your brain’s conditioning.

Once you’ve created a habit, your cognitive bandwidth is now available for other important activities.

Think of what your trading would be like if every time you spot a great trade setup – you pull the trigger without worrying about a loss. How would that help your performance on a day to day basis?

Hence your direct path to successful trading is to build successful trading habits.

NOTE: If you want to learn my personal methods for wiring successful habits into your brain fast – check out my Advanced Traders Mindset Course.

Front End Work For Long Term Benefits

Building successful habits requires most of the work to be done on the front end. What do I mean by front end?

To wire in a new habit, you have to physically (and chemically) create a new series of connections. This takes (at a minimum) consistent repetition over time.

How long? For the expert at this – about 21 days is the fastest you can do this. 30 days would be more reasonable.

What if you are not working 4-8 hours per day trading at least 5 days per week?

You’ll need about 90-180 days.

From my experience as a trading mentor who’s turned many traders profitable, this is one of the biggest reasons why many never succeed. The habit wiring curve takes just a tad longer than most are willing to do consistently over time.

Do you change your pair, price action strategy or time frames if you don’t get the results you want in a few weeks or a couple of months? Do you just jump from mentor to mentor and course to course as you continue to struggle?

If so, then you have a problem because you’re changing critical behaviors before you’ve fully wired in the habit.

Hence you never get the benefits of wiring successful habits into your brain. And then you eventually wonder why you cannot trade consistently.

Sound familiar?

Thus most of the work in building successful habits for you will come in the front end. The good thing is once you’ve wired them in, the rewards (and potential upside) are unlimited.

That sounds like a pretty good trade to me now doesn’t it?

Why Delayed Gratification Is Key

In your journey to create new habits, you’ll be fighting against a primal instinct. This is via instant gratification and one reason why our brains work against us in trading.

The key is to flip the script and opt for delayed gratification. The problem for you is – in a time of instant gratification, most of what you are exposed to works against this.

 

So you have to go against the grains of every day society and culture.

The bottom line is – if you want ot succeed in trading or life, you’ll need to seek out delayed gratification. This will direct your mindset towards building successful habits over time.

As you begin to add positive habits into your life, you’l build up your self-image along the way.

Having a positive self-image will increase your confidence. Eventually you’ll start to think and believe it is ‘like you’ to succeed.

You’ll believe it is ‘like you’ to accomplish what you set out to do. This is one of the most important things you can build for your mindset.

“The habits you wire in today will become the vehicle for your success tomorrow.”

In the spirit of wanting to build my self-image, habits and mindset, I’m taking on these 7 habits for the month of June.

The 30 Day Mindset Challenge: Will You Succeed?

For the next 30 days (without breaks), I’ll be adding the following habits to my daily routine.

Here they 7 new habits below:

1)    1hr of writing/producing new trading content per day

2)    45 pushups

3)    25 situps

4)    25 squats

5)    30 mins reading a book or article about buddhism

6)    30 minutes reading a book or article on neuroscience and/or mindset

7)    30 mins – 1hr work on the new trading applications I’m creating (will announce at a later date)

Looking at the list above, that is a lot of new habits to take on. We’re talking about adding 3-3.5hrs of work to my day every day for the next 30 days.

Normally I do not recommend taking on such a big load of new habits or hours to your daily schedule. However I have confidence in my ability to manage my time and get this done.

Will you take on this 30 day mindset challenge?

If so, I’d recommend starting with 1 habit to begin with.

Start small and work your way up. There is no point setting yourself up for failure, so work on something you can achieve. Just make it stretch your comfort zone a bit.

NOTE: For a great article about the comfort zone and how it determines your success in trading, click here.

 

BTW – if some of you are thinking ‘only 25 situps per day?’, my apologies as a) I’m getting older and b) I’ve spent far too much time in the seat lately 😮

All kidding aside (partially kidding…), what new habit will you challenge yourself for the next 30 days?

Write it below along with why you want to work on this.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to work on a habit that you can control the execution of.

For example – you cannot control the market and profits. Hence creating a habit like ‘I’m going to make $5000 per day trading’ will fail because it’s based on something you cannot control (markets).

This is why you only work on habits that you can control.

Now make sure to share below what one habit you’ll be working on for the next 30 days. Be specific along with sharing what it will mean to you to build this new habit.

I’ll be posting updates on this once per week every Tuesday at 930am so make sure to check back regularly.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you. And I’m willing to bet you’ll feel like a more confident version of yourself for completing such a challenge.

Until then – good health and trading to you.