The last two days break from trading was a special one.. Cause it was just not any normal vacation, I spent time with one of my trader friends and it gave me an opportunity to look at my current situation by withdrawing myself from it. (As a third person). Based on the realisations and experience I am going to do some changes in my ongoing challenge.
1. Dropping the idea of quitting trading if not successful.
When I started my 1st challenge of making 300% in 5months, I had already stated before my intention was very clear to become that person who can make 300% on any given 5 months.. My goal was not on monetary achievement. based on the experience and mistakes from 1st challenge when I started the 2nd challenge my intention was still the same. But when I started addressing my fear of not leaving trading (trading being a comfort zone) and the stakes got higher the challenge went on to a new level all together. Knowingly or unknowingly I was focusing on the 300% only. (by any means)..Day after day I was facing fear of loss, loosing focus, being restless in a dull market and was not addressing them but was only looking at 300% by Dec. Thankfully this break made me look where I am going wrong.
The closer analogy I can think of is - "Its like a battleground from which the warrior is going to return for sure, either alive by winning it or his dead body. So its a complete do or die battle. And no captain in his sane mind will send an amateur soldier from his team for such a battle. These battles are for true warriors who take pride even dying and stay grounded even after winning as they know one battle is nothing in the life of a warrior".
As it was seen during my last challenge, I have the humility to accept that I am in no way closer to being an expert trader. I am still struggling to make profit.. So if I want to take part in that battle, first I need to become that warrior through dedicated training, disciplined and routine drills both physically and emotionally. And that should be my first challenge to acquire those quality as it was during my 1st challenge.
Rest about addressing the issue on making trading as comfort zone, I know this challenge will be waiting for me once I prove myself as an warrior. So for the time being I am dropping that idea of leaving trading if 300% is not made.
2. Having sub-goals with in the bigger goals
Now my main aim is to be that trader who is able to trade profitably and can make 300% on any 5 months. And on that path on a regular basis I am facing many huddles (habitual, emotional, and technical). And now my main goal is to take one issue at a time and fix it on a week basis and keep moving forward to my bigger goals.
I got to ask myself these questions - "How can I be a trader of that calibre(300% in 5months) If I am not having this simple attribute of patience?" "What kind of trader I will be If I am not able to handle the boredom coming out of no trading hours ?" I always used this as a reason to add more scrips to my watch-list. Though I dont see any wrong in tracking multiple stocks simultaneously provided one is able to trade them all perfectly. During my 1st challenge I often missed signals due to multiple stocks. SO I was always swinging between these two choices of one vs many but I never addressed the core issue in first place. I think this is what
@VJAY and
@augubhai were referring in few posts earlier.
Its true one need a great deal of patience and concentration to track just one stock and need to wait for the right opportunity like a crocodile perhaps. But tracking more symbols and to trade them perfectly one need even a more calmer mind, more concentration and more focus of mind. So this my first sub - challenge.
S/G 1 - Trade one scrip perfectly for 1 week.
- From tomorrow till next Friday I am going to trade only 1 symbol. i.e. TATASTEEL future.
- The goal is to maintain the level of concentration and focus from 9am to 3:30PM, and take all the trades exactly as per the system.
- in evening post 2 charts one with trades marked as per the strategy and one with actual trades taken by me. Study them both and note down where and why I deviated and check the scopes for improvement.
- If at least for a single day I loose focus because I was not attentive and for that if I miss signal/or take wrong entry (again for lack of focus), then it will be counted as a failure and the challenge will be repeated for one more week.
- Always come with a trade plan to market. and maintain trade journal and log file after the market.
This will test my patience, level of concentration and how well I understand and execute my strategy in live market. No more excuses from tomorrow. ( Now I am getting the feel like the real game is ON.
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