Find Your "Thing"

Every trader starts out believing they have what it takes to succeed. Otherwise, why would you open a broker account?! But after a string of losers and damage to your equity curve, that belief starts to wane. You start to wonder if you really can do it.

You’ve read all the books, maybe taken a few courses, but still aren’t where you want to be yet. If you let it, that belief starts to decrease slowly until you reside yourself to failure…

You cannot let that happen. Regardless of your current situation, you must believe things can get better. (Remember Stockdale?)

Believing in yourself as a trader involves having a clear understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. Accept you have weaknesses, but also you have strengths, even though it may not seem like it.

Today, if you feel like belief is waning, try this: Imagine pitching yourself on Dragons Den or Shark Tank as a great trader. What would you say are positive personality traits you possess that will make you a great trader? What sets you apart from others?

What ever that ‘thing‘ is, that’s your edge. Is it attention to detail? Determination? Grit? Work ethic? Calmness under pressure? Decide what it is and then figure out how you can use that to your advantage in the trading world.

Because if you can do that, then you can start to believe you have what it takes. You start to see how that quality can be turned into a super power. Then you start to build a trading business around that, leveraging on that specific quality or skill.

You only need to see some light at the end of the tunnel for that belief to come flooding back. And once it does, capture it, harness it and use it as fuel to propel you forwards.