Losing Direction for Traders

Why do so many good traders lose direction?

When most traders start out, they are highly motivated and goal-directed. With such an intense focus, it is easy to set priorities and reach near-term goals. As time goes by, however, the internal landscape changes for the trader as those near-term goals are reached and are then replaced by other issues, personal problems and needs.

Short-term passions

If you are the type of person who gets excited about each new venture, but lets that passion fizzle out when some other activity grabs your interest, then trading is probably not for you. Those who become professional traders find trading exciting. If and when they don’t it is the beginning of the end of their career, or they have to learn to reignite what brought them into trading in the first place.

Floor to computer

In the case of Charlie, his passion for trading left him when floor trading started to transition to computer trading. Charlie was an old time trader who loved the rough and tumble of being on the floor. He loved the camaraderie and the feeling of going into battle. Sure his back ached, he lost his voice and he would get angry with someone who he felt was incompetent, but he was a floor trader personified.

When the floors at the New York Stock Exchange were starting to shut down, Charlie hired someone to teach him to trade on a computer. He would trade half a day on the floor and the other half on the computer. Needless to say, he dreaded the second part of the day.  Eventually, when he traded just on a computer he started to lose money.

When Charlie called me, I told him to think about every career choice that he could possibly do and notice if any of them got him excited. Charlie said that the only type of activity that would get him excited was no longer available because of his age. He was referring to a vigorous sports career.

I suggested instead that he take up ping-pong and only trade on the computer a few hours a day in a room with other ex-floor traders who were going through the same struggle. Last I heard Charlie was in an office with three of the traders in the pit and had a ping-pong table in the office. He brought back his passion and his profits.

Sustaining passion and direction

When you put together your business plan, create levels of success to maintain your interest and your passion:

Conclusion

You will sustain direction and passion when you know that there is another level of achievement that is waiting for you to conquer. If you get stuck at any level, get help or you may lose your momentum. Always remember what excited you in the first place, follow your plan and you will stay on course. Rewards work for me, perhaps they will work for you.

Adrienne Toghraie coaches traders and investors to their next level of success by helping them overcome their self-imposed limitations. She has been a keynote speaker since 1989, author of 13 books, and owner of TradingOnTarget.com

Key Words and Tags - education, psychology, discipline, self-sabotage, coach, rules