If you play golf, probably you read great books written by Dr. Bob Rotella like “Golf is Not a Game of Perfect”. The thoughts and ideals in this books could change your whole perspective on golf and into other areas of your life.
As you mature as a trader you will understand that trading too, like golf, is “not a game of perfect”. It is a game of ifs, buts, nearly’s, maybes. Trading is a probability based endeavor. You cannot be perfect! Trading is a business and you should treat it as such.
You can’t imagine that everything you have ever done in your business career is perfect. Don’t let your drive to be perfect keep you from enjoying and prospering in the “game” you love. You must develop this mindset! Like Dr. Rotella explains, “pick small targets” and focus like a laser on them.
Think about this. You could practice flipping a coin to come up heads every time until your hands bleed but of course you realize that you will never achieve that result. You can absolutely be the best “coin flipper” in the world and your outcome will still be 50/50 if you have a statistically significant sample size.
This analogy of course seems ridiculous but it applies to probability based trading which is the methodology that pro-traders use every single day in the selection and execution of their trades.
You can probably think for yourself about times when you have gotten out of that trade too early only to see it rocket to and perhaps beyond your profit target, or that time you got out of the market for a loss only to see it come back and go your way or maybe the time you didn’t take the trade because the set-up wasn’t quite right, or it wasn’t quite at your level, only to see it go on to be a winner.
Likewise maybe there have been times when fortune has favoured you in similar situations. The nature of markets and the nature of humans creates an environment of imperfection. Perfectionism is an admirable quality to some degree, but can often be destructive and is likely to hinder you as a trader.
Want to be the best in the world? Watch Jason Day tell his amazing life story and how he overcame emotional and physical struggles in both golf and life. A great story of perseverance, not giving up, changing your life, not doubting yourself and so much more.
