One of my friends really likes the idea of trading because, as a matter of fact, it brings a lot of freedom. Almost every time I see him, the topic comes up. I tell him about how I sometimes win and sometimes lose money. It's great to talk with him. I get the perspective of a non-trader about the currency market and trading in general. One time, he made me realize something. That is; people who do not trade are far from understanding what trading really is. “Wow! You must be very lucky”, he once told me when I said I could earn money trading. He attributed the results of all my hours, money spent in education , and money lost to luck.. Luck isn't part of a trader's success though. Not at all. In fact, you better not buy a lottery ticket after your trading has been profitable. Being successful as a trader does not mean you are lucky. Instead, trading is all about dedication, consistency, and mastery. If you are a successful trader, you have for sure used the 3 keys described below.
Dedication
As I started trading, I was mostly interested in making money as fast as I could. That is obviously a bad way to go about anything but a lot of people start that way. Like many other new traders, I lost a good part of my money at first. If you want to know more, you can read my introduction.
I remember trading being so hard at some point because every strategy I tried ended up costing more money due to my lack of focus. As time passed, I felt bad about losing because I knew there were many successful traders out there. However, at that exact time, I made an essential decision. This decision was that I would keep persevering in trading and learning as long as I would become successful. There was no other way around. I told myself I would never do what most new traders do, which is giving up after too much money. This is true dedication. If you are not as dedicated as I was about trading, chances are you will have trouble going through tough times. The dedication to succeed in trading made me invest in education, write my trading plan, and, most importantly, implement a trading strategy successfully.
Consistency
Most often, in anything we start, we get excited at the beginning. After a while though, we get discouraged and settle without getting what we were really dedicated for. While dedication encourages you to not give up for a while, a commitment to consistency is what you should aim for on a daily basis. Consistency means finding what works and doing it every single day without even thinking about it. For instance, applying consistency in fitness might be to go out for a walk every morning. In trading, consistency is applied by trading the same strategy over and over again without falling for the temptation to enter trades that do not fit at 100% your strategy. If I had applied consistency from the beginning and over a longer time period of time, my trading would have been completely different. I believe it would have been less of a headache.
Unfortunately, it isn't always easy to get committed to something on a daily basis. This is why you must have a structure in place to remind you about your commitment every day. The best way I found is to take a sheet of paper and write down what you are committed to. Then, place that sheet somewhere you will see it easily and look at it every morning. I can tell you that it works. In addition, writing down stuff by hand is, in my opinion, much better than writing it on a computer or a mobile device. Try it and let me know the results.
Mastery
Mastery, unlike most people think is a force you apply from the beginning. As you start doing something you should focus on mastering every single detail about THE ONE THING you are learning. This will allow you to master what you learn and once you master something, you become unstoppable. In my opinion, one of the problem most new traders face is the desire to try many different trading strategies to find the best one. However, over time, you understand that none of all the strategies available is the best. What you must do is find a strategy you like to trade and that is simple enough for you. Once this is done, focus on mastering every single detail about the strategy you picked. Do not try anything else as long as you do not master your strategy at 100%. If you become a master, you can then build strategies one over the other.
Conclusion
While most people may believe it, a successful trader is not necessarily lucky. A trader often goes through all the imaginable misery before becoming a world-class trader. However, it isn’t that hard to get successful as a new trader. A successful trader is the result of dedication, consistency, and mastery. If you are applying these principles on a daily basis, it only a question of time before you become a profitable trader. Make sure, though, that you really are applying the principles described in this article.
As always, let me know whether you’ve used this principles in your trading by commenting below. If you’re not using these principles yet, comment with an action you will start doing to incorporate dedication, consistency or mastery on a daily basis.
