The Trader You are Now is Not
The Trader You will be Next Year

“The trader you are now is not the trader you will be next year” – Me

Alright, I’m sure I heard something like that from someone else before, but it’s a phrase I often think about and share with developing traders.

What’s the meaning behind it? We can’t see the trader we are turning into yet, because it’s not happened. Just like we can’t see what price will be at this time next year. We can make guesses, but we never really know.

“You’re stating the obvious Mark, get to the point, these are supposed to take less than three minutes to read, I’ll give you 30 more seconds”

Ok ok. My point is this:

Sometimes we can’t work out how we are going to make trading work for us when we look at the current situation. The losses, the winners, the drawdowns, the time. It all seems like an impossibility. That’s because you are looking at the future based on the trader you are now.

• The trader you are now is not the trader you will be in a year’s time.
• That trader may well be an absolute beast at extracting profits from the market and keeping them.
• That trader may well have dialled in his discipline so much that mini-blow-ups don’t occur any more.
• That trader might have capitalised perfectly on a market opportunity significantly boosting his account balance.

You just don’t know!

Today, when you look at your own trading results and think about the future, don’t allow yourself to limit those goals based on the trader you are now.

Because that’s inaccurate. Allow yourself to think big and when that small voice tells you “that’s impossible, just look at the way you trade. You could never hit those numbers”

Simply smile and say “The trader I am now is not the trader I will be next year”