Trader wants to improve his trading consistency. (Please assume Trader has some edge in markets.)
Trader might double down on their efforts to perform better during market hours. If I just focus better. If I just take only A+ trades. If I just wait for my trades more patiently. If I just use this indicator. If I just size up in my best trades. If I just stop making those trades. If I just give my trades more room. And on and on and on…….
What if the progress is not in the effort during market hours?
We know markets are always changing. We know that each trade is not quite the same. This is what makes trading so difficult. The data we use to make decisions is always different. It is ever-changing.
What if the progress is in changing what we bring to markets? What if we work on decreasing the variables brought to each trade by creating a more consistent us?
What if we doubled down on a more consistent process so our reaction to markets was more uniform?
What if we:
- went to bed at the same time
- awoke at the same time
- ate the same thing each day
- prepared the same way before each open
- reviewed the same way after each close
- Ripped through charts the same way
- Ate at the same times each day
- Exercised the same number of days each week
- Practiced mindfulness the same time each day
- kept our weight constant
Then we would bring a consistent us to markets.
We would remove the varying degrees of:
- energy
- processing ability
- focus
- preparation
- anxiousness
- physical fitness
- blood sugar levels
- fatigue
With markets ever-changing, how can you be optimally consistent when you are bringing a different you to markets with an inconsistent process, before and during and after market hours? You are literally a different person attacking different markets each trading session, without a consistent process. That recipe will bake inconsisent results.
Inconsistent results are mentally fatiguing. They threaten confidence in our best trades. They thwart the best in us. They beat at our trading progress. They may even pose a risk to our trading career during draw downs.
Consider doubling down on building a consistent process, with some of the ideas above, to improve your trading consistency. You will need to build a process that works for you, as some will find the above too robotic for their personality. Some may feel very comfortable with the above ideas and more.
As always, I welcome your trading questions and feedback- [email protected].
*no relevant positions
