Commitment, Patience and Responsibility
We finish this lesson with three factors that are very subjective in nature and we think you will agree they are vital for your personal development and ability to succeed
Commitment
Commitment is a promise made to yourself to achieve “something”, from which you will not back down no matter what the circumstances are – it is an unbreakable contract with yourself.
A lot of traders have dreams (i.e. achieve consistent profits), but only a few are willing to commit to what is necessary to achieve them.
What we need to do is to review our level of commitment answering the following questions:
How badly do I want to achieve my goals?
If I achieve my goals, what would it mean to me?
Do I believe I can achieve my goals?
The truth is this: the level in which you achieve your goals is directly related to the level to which you are willing to commit to them.
Therefore, if you are willing to commit to this business and accomplish your goals, you are likely to accomplish your dreams as a trader.
Remember real commitment requires definite action towards a known goal.
Patience
Patience is a virtue. When a trader is patient, he waits for his system to signal a trade. He knows his trading is very important so that he does not trade out of boredom. He is not eager to get in the market because he knows the opportunity will come. He is not chasing the market because he thinks he is going to miss part of the move. He is just patient, and waits for his system to gives the right signal, only under that circumstances he is willing to trade and take the risk.
Being patient means to sit back and make no trades until the system signals a good trading opportunity, even if that means to take no trades for days or even weeks. Very few traders are able to do this, because most of them are trading out of excitement, they don’t treat their trading activities as a business, they just trade. The careers of these eager traders that don’t wait for real trading opportunities (when their system signals a trade) tend to last less than it should.
You need to be patient enough to wait for the market to express itself and give you the opportunities you require to trade successfully.
Traders also need to be patient for the potential rewards that might come in the future. You cannot get rich in a month or two, you just need to wait and develop your trading skills. If you try to speed things up you might find yourself taking uncontrolled risks that could lead you to wipe out your trading account.
Be sure that if you follow every single aspect of trading outlined in this course the profits will come, you just have to be patient.
“Our job as traders is not to trade often but to trade well.”
Responsibility
Another important habit you should be aware of is responsibility. It is easy to delegate someone else the responsibility of your failures, and at the same time it is easy to take the responsibility of your successes.
This is the case for traders who make poorly planned trades and have poorly planned business plans. Whenever the market behaves to our liking they take all responsibilities, “I did a great job” or “God I am so good”, but what happens when the market didn’t go in the intended direction “the market is just impossible to trade” or “those money makers are against my trades” or “my broker don’t want me to make money”. The truth is no one is responsible but you.
You are responsible for any trade whether it was very well planned or poorly planned since you are the one executing those trades. Trying to delegate the responsibility is a defense mechanism that is supposed to release you from pain but it actually damages you more. Traders that think this way are likely to make the same mistake again and again.
Successful traders know that every action they take is their own action. They never look to blame someone or something else for either his losses or successes. If something goes wrong with their trades or investments, they take full responsibility and try to learn from them, because every losing trade has something to offer, something we can learn about, every losing trade is a learning experience if you deal appropriately with them. They will try to see what went wrong and think in a way to fix it so it does not happen again in the future.
Until you feel this way, you are never going to feel comfortable trading your system or trading at all. You must accept everything you do when trading (and any other aspect of life) as your responsibility.
The same goes for someone that is using someone else’s advice to trade. You are totally responsible for any loss incurred, because you are the one who is actually executing the trades.
Take responsibility for all your actions – this will make you happier, and importantly all the others around you too.