No More Groundhog Years

Knowing what you want is the doorway to getting what you want. Knowing what is holding you back from having it is the turbo charger to creating a life that you love.

When January comes around it can feel like Groundhog Day, where you write down pretty much the same trading goals as every year without ever achieving them, until you finally figure out what is missing.

Wealth cannot speak but it is always listening. We do not attract to us what we want, we attract who we believe we are. What we believe we deserve determines what we attend to and how we attend to it. What we focus on determines which actions we take, and the actions determine the outcomes we create, in a cause-and-effect scenario.

3 Common Mistakes That Stop Traders in Their Tracks

1. 1

   Using goal setting as a dream factory rather than an identity map

   Tell me your goals and I know your dreams. Tell me your standards and expectations of yourself, your habits and routines for who you are becoming, and I know what you will achieve in life. Dreaming up a goal and writing it down is the fun part, and that is where the productivity stops for most.

   The real essence of goal setting is to create a process of identifying the areas where you need to grow and evolve. Start small and build on a solid foundation. If there were two important changes that need to occur for you to be totally successful, what would they be? More confidence in yourself? More discipline? Breaking patterns of self-sabotage? Getting over the fear of taking a loss?

   Focus on process. If the process is good, the profit will take care of itself.

2. 2

   Thinking too big can lead to overwhelm

   By all means, think big, but I question whether it is useful to set a goal of making $10,000 a month net profit if you are currently only producing losing months. That can not only lead to overwhelm, but also promotes self-doubt, with that little voice giving you a lot of reasons why you will never achieve it.

   The most effective way is to use a percentage increase rather than a dollar increase as a goalpost. If you are currently making $1,000 profit per month, set your target as increasing your profits by 10% each month. Use the dollar goal as a feedback loop for the quality of your process. If you do not reach your goal, all it means is that you need to go back to the drawing board and explore what to improve in your skillset, mindset, or which area of life may have interfered with your ability to perform.

3. 3

   Not addressing obstacles before they stop you

   This is often the most important and most uncomfortable area. Ask yourself: what has stopped me in the past from achieving my trading goals? This might include time, money, lack of opportunities, motivation, procrastination, lack of self-belief, not knowing how to achieve it, or maybe you genuinely do not know what has stopped you.

   Look back at the patterns. Do you often put lots of energy and enthusiasm in at the start, then within a couple of weeks find you have lost motivation? Do you start too many projects at once and end up overwhelmed? Identifying your unique patterns is key to changing them.

   What about limiting beliefs? What you tell yourself can stop you from achieving your most prized goals. An underlying belief such as "I do not have what it takes" does not always appear as a thought. Sometimes it is just a feeling. Those subconscious influences will sabotage your plans, cause you to miss opportunities, and prevent you from ever feeling confident enough to pull the trigger.

The Wheel of Life: Areas to Examine

Use the wheel of life to identify three areas outside of trading that, if improved, will help bring out the best in you for your trading.

Strategy vs Trader Identity

In its essence, the biggest factor that leads to lack of discipline is how we as traders relate to winning and losing. It is your money mindset that shapes the way you feel about your profits and losses. That is why there is no point in looking to the outside thinking the answers lay in another trading strategy, if you are not prepared to look within and realize: you are the strategy.

Your self-image impacts your values and your beliefs about money, and vice versa. Your values and beliefs about money are simply a reflection of what you believe about yourself and how much you value and respect yourself.

The Daily Action Plan

Take action daily and review your goals weekly. Many small steps toward your goal will move you toward the accomplishments you wish to attain. I have a strict schedule each day, like an elite athlete, on what I will do to become a better trader than the day before. I always strive to be better than I was the moment before.

Enlist the help of a trading buddy, partner, or coach. Tell them what you intend to do. This puts the power squarely in your hands to determine your results. And remember: there are no limitations, except those that are self-created, and those you can change.