Learn to craft trading goals that make a difference1. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Learn to Craft Trading Goals That Make a Difference
Everyone knows goals are important – Everyone of us has set goals for our personal
life. It should be no different for our Trading Life as well.
Personal goals may include losing some weight, exercising more, quitting smoking, being
active in our community, or spending more quality time with our family.
In our Trading life, we set goals to be more organized, earn more money, grow a trading
business, complete a trading course, or simplify our methodology.
These are certainly all worthy goals. However, most of these goals will not be
achieved. Why? Usually because they were not properly set to begin with, or the person
setting the goal was not really committed to achieving it.
Your attitude is critical – To achieve anything worthwhile in life you must have a positive
mental attitude no matter what other successful attributes you possess. A positive mental
attitude is the energy that when combined with your other skills and attributes, allows you
to reach your goals. Success is achieved and maintained by people who work hard with a
positive mental attitude.
I believe trading actually becomes fun when we set and achieve specific goals. All successful
people have a definite purpose combined with a positive attitude. They constantly ask,
“Where am I going? What do I really want? What are my goals?” When this happens,
trading becomes more enjoyable and rewarding instead of an unpleasant means of paying
your bills. You become self-motivated and enthusiastic. And that enthusiasm turns into
achievement!
The importance of self-management – Good self-managers enjoy their trading because
they accomplish more and they give themselves more credit. You can increase your
performance by improving your self-management abilities. Setting personal and business
goals are tools that will help you improve your self-management.
The Secret to Achieving Goals
1. Be Positive - State what you want to do. If you want to avoid or stop doing something,
state your goal in terms of what you want to do instead.
2. Set a Deadline - A deadline provides you with the needed time frame for achieving
your goal. It gives you something to aim for.
3. Be Specific - You’ll want to measure your progress as you work toward your goal. The
more specific your goal, the easier it is to measure your progress. Always quantify your
goal.
4. Be Realistic - Goals should be realistic and yet cause you to “stretch” to reach it.
Setting unrealistically high goals will cause you or your people to feel badly for attaining
only 90%, or worse, they may not even try to make it. Better to set smaller goals, meet
them, and then set a higher goal.
2. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Write Your Goal Down - You must be able to write your goal down. Your goal
statement must answer as many of the following questions as possible.
Who?
Will do what?
When?
Where?
To what extent?
To what degree?
How much? How long? How hard? etc.
Example: My goal is to improve my trading profitability 25% over last year by year end. I
will achieve this by solidifying my trading methodology and aggressively adhering to my
trading rules.
The example above emphasizes doing something. It describes what the accomplished goal
will look like.
Your goals should be S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Specific – State exactly what you want to achieve, how you’re going to do it and
when you want to achieve it. A specific goal that is well defined has a much greater
chance of being accomplished than a general goal. I suggest you begin with a goal
that you can achieve within a week to a month. It’s easy to give up on goals that
take too long to reach. If you have a big goal, break it down into a series of smaller
weekly or daily goals. After you achieve one of the smaller goals, move on to the
next. To set a specific goal you must be able to answer these questions: Who: Who
is involved? What: What do I want to accomplish? When: Establish a time frame.
Which: Identify requirements and constraints. Why: Specific reasons, purpose or
benefits of accomplishing the goal. Example: A general goal would be, “I want to lose
some weight.” But a specific goal would be, “I want to lose 20 pounds by joining a
health club and working out 3 days a week and eating healthy meals.”
Measurable – To know if the goal is attainable you need to set the criteria for
measuring your progress. Measuring your progress makes it easier to stay on track
and reach your goal within the time frame you wanted. The excitement that comes
from achieving your goal drives you on to set new goals. A goal doesn’t do you any
good if there’s no way of telling if you’ve achieved it. “I want to feel better” isn’t a
very good goal because it’s not specific and it’s difficult to measure. “I want to work
out 3 times a week for 30 minutes,” is a better goal because it’s specific and
measurable. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as – How
much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?
Attainable – Once you identify the goals that are most important, you then must
figure out ways to make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills,
and desire to reach them. You will recognize opportunities to bring yourself closer to
achieving your goals. Ask yourself whether the goal is within reasonable reach. For
instance, completing a marathon is not an achievable goal if you’ve never run before.
However, completing a 5K run an attainable goal if you take the steps required to
train. History shows people can attain most any goal they set when they plan their
steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows them to carry out those steps.
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All Rights Reserved.
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3. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and
become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand
to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself
as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to
possess them.
Realistic – To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective you are both willing
and able to achieve. Goals can be both high and realistic. Is the goal realistic for
you? The purpose of a goal is to shift your focus from where you are today to where
you want to be in the future. However you can’t ignore your limitations. Your goals
need to be within your capabilities. If your business has suffered a serious setback
and revenue declined 20% last year, a goal of increasing your revenue by 50% this
year may not be realistic. Instead, your goal might be to get back the 20% revenue
you lost and then build on that. You are the only one who can decide how high your
goal should be set. A high goal is often times easier to reach than a low one because
a low goal is not as valuable and creates low motivation. Some of the hardest jobs
you ever accomplish may actually seem easy simply because you enjoyed what you
were doing. Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be
accomplished. Another way to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you
have accomplished anything similar in the past.
Timed – Set a specific timeframe for achieving the goal; next week, three months,
by the end of March. Putting an end point on your goal gives you a clear target to
work towards. If you don’t set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to
happen because you feel you can start at any time. Without a time limit, there’s no
urgency to start taking action now. Remember, the time frame must be measurable,
attainable and realistic. Not too much time, which can affect project performance.
Achieving large goals through small steps – Again, let's use a trading
example. Suppose your goal is to improve trading profitability 25% over last year by year
end.
You can’t accomplish this goal or any other without first identifying what actions need to be
taken and prioritizing them. In this case you won’t achieve the goal until:
1. Consistent revenue from current trading activity is estimated
2. Trading rules are identified and documented
3. A plan is created to evaluate daily trade activity
4. Revenue targets are assessed on a Weekly basis
5. An on-going education path is documented
6. Opportunities for technique improvement are identified
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All Rights Reserved.
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4. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Celebrating your victories – Keep in mind the importance of achieving each of the steps
is to help you reach your ultimate goal. The key is to know what actions you have to take
and prioritize them so they get DONE!
As the saying goes “Success is the journey, not the destination.” Enjoy the experiences
along the way and celebrate each small victory. These small celebrations will help you get
through the certain difficult times you will encounter. Every road to achieving your goals will
have its bumps. Celebrating your victories will help you get through them.
Set your goals now. Consistently review them and redefine as needed. Know what actions
to take and when to take them.
Good luck!
Regards,
Adam Halpern
Indicator Warehouse, President
877-646-5249
www.IndicatorWarehouse.com
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trading has large potential rewards, but also large potential risk. You must be aware of the risks and be
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LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD, SIMULATED RESULTS DO NOT
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