Building Your Trading By Building Your Consistency

Bella makes an excellent point in his recent post:  We improve our trading not only by making improvements during trading hours, but also by building consistency in our lives outside of trading.  It is through such consistency that we build habit patterns.  Those habits reinforce qualities in us that show up in our work.

Just a moment ago, I was starting to write this post when Sofie jumped onto my lap after bringing me her favorite toy, a rubber mouse.  She was purring and clearly wanted to cuddle and play fetch.  So now I have a dilemma:  do I continue with the post or do I pet this formerly homeless cat and toss her mouse for a few rounds of fetch?  Of course it's a no-brainer.  I play with Sofie.  And I would have done the same thing if it had been my little son or daughter coming up to me while I was reading, writing, or working.  People and their needs come first.  That's what makes me a psychologist.  The consistency of acting upon that is a big part of what has helped me be effective when the people I work with have needed attention.

Whatever we do during the non-trading day is training for what we will be like when we're trading.  Everything we do trains us for something.  If we are scattered and disorganized in our personal lives, we are building those qualities and will enact them in our trading.  If we fail to make efforts outside of trading, it won't be surprising if we don't follow through on goals written in our journals.  Bella's point is that we become better traders by enacting the qualities in our personal lives that will make us better in financial markets.  

In small ways, every day, we can be the person we want to become until, one day, it all comes naturally.

Further Reading:  Be The Person You Want To Become
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