A Successful Trading Mindset – Setting Goals

In a great study by Thomas Corley on the daily habits of successful wealthy business people vs. the poor, some fascinating statistics were unearthed. Here are several below:

• 76% of wealthy people exercise aerobically at least 4 days a week vs. 23% for the poor
• Those same wealthy people eat over 30% less junk food
• 65% watch less than 1hr of TV a day, and almost never watch reality TV
• 88% of those same wealthy people read 30 minutes or more each day  vs 2% of the poor
• and lastly, 67% of those successful business people write down their goals vs. 11%

It should be noted almost 70% of these now successful people started off in poverty.

One statistic this study really dug into was that of setting goals, and the discrepancy was overwhelming across the board. Here they are below:

1. 67% of successful business people write down their goals vs. 17% of the unsuccessful
2. 80% focus on accomplishing a specific goal vs. 12% for those struggling
3. 86% believe in continual self-improvement and education vs 5%
4. 84% believe good habits create opportunities vs. 4% for the poor people
5. 76% believe bad habits have a negative impact vs. 9%

Hence, highly successful people write down their goals, focus intensely on accomplishing a specific goal, continually train and work on themselves, are super confident good habits create more opportunities, and avoid negative habits and limiting beliefs.

Now ask yourself, have you written down your trading goals, or are they just in your head?

When you are training, are you working on a specific skill, and doing deliberate practice?

Or are you just going through the motions waiting till the market opens?

Do you just think between your two ears you should write in your trading journal, or are you writing in it each day you trade and train?

Where are you at in this spectrum of habits and in setting goals?

It’s one thing to say, ‘I want to make 10% a month‘, or ‘I want to be a professional trader’.

But do you follow it up with action?

Do you set goals, build a specific plan of action to accomplish that goal, and then put hours into that plan of action every day?

If so, then you have a key piece in place towards trading successfully.

But if not, spend about 1 minute asking yourself why you haven’t set any trading goals, then the next 30 minutes discovering what those goals are, and what you need to do to accomplish them. From there, you have to take action.

In reality, the largest portion behind your success is the choice to think successfully. What you think and do has the greatest impact on your success or failure. I meet a ton of people who were highly successful (at something) before they came to trading. Yet they get stumped on how to trade successfully and become frustrated.

That frustration is a type of amnesia. It’s forgetting you weren’t always successful at what you are now. It took time, likely hundreds of hours, you made an ocean of mistakes, worked hard when it wasn’t convenient, and kept going when problems hit you for a loop.

Where is that wisdom now? Where is that experience now when you are experiencing your frustration? Rely upon that, and use it to keep moving forward. Tune your mind to what you want to accomplish, understand what it takes to achieve that, continually work on building a successful mindset, and then get to work.

Nothing about this will be easy, but nothing great ever is.