In Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code we learn the three rules of deep practice. Rule number two is Repeat It.
“Nothing you can do – talking, thinking, reading, imagining- is more effective in building skill than executing the action, firing the impulse down the nerve fiber, fixing errors, honing the circuit.”
This explanation reveals why it is impossible to transfer trading prowess from one person to another. You can’t talk, think, read, or imagine your way to elite performance. The key lies in the “doing”, going through the motions. Now that’s not to say talking or reading about trading isn’t helpful. It is. I pick up tons of insight from talking with other investors and traversing the trading blogosphere. I’m like a hungry orphan hiding below the tables of successful traders just hoping they’ll drop a few morsels of wisdom I can chew on. Yet it’s not a substitute for “executing the action”. Nothing replaces sitting in front of my computer, monitoring positions, assessing potential trades and most importantly pulling the trigger.
Trading is merry-go-round of emotion. Unfortunately many run from emotion instead of embracing it. My initial response when faced with a losing position was to flee – literally. Once I mustered up enough courage I would return to my trading turret in hopes that the evil demon stealing my money had moved on to torment someone else. More times than not I would discover my departure simply emboldened my adversary and increased the flow of my loss spigot.
Repetition breeds familiarity. Familiarity diminishes fear. Think of how potent the fear was during your first trade. Mine was palpable, dripping from the walls. Thoughts of losing money danced through my head. Now, compare that to the fear felt on your one thousandth trade (if you haven’t had that many then use your imagination). Dollars to donuts it pales in comparison.
Why?
You’ve harnessed the power of repetition.
For related posts, readers can check out:
If He Can Do It, Why Can’t I?
A Monopoly on Trading Wisdom
I’ve Seen This Movie Before
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Great post Tyler,
As a golfer, this rings very true to me. I believe trading and golf have a lot of similarities. It is almost impossible to be good at either one right out of the gate. You may get lucky, but you are not skilled. One of the biggest hurdles I face is accepting that I almost have to fail before I will succeed at trading. Success/skill does not come over night. Books and blogs are great, but nothing takes the place of the real thing (live or paper accounts). Just a great reminder.
Thanks Steve.
The whole “have to fail to succeed” notion is a tough pill for most to swallow (myself included). Unfortunately as you mention it’s usually a necessary step. The trick then is to fail small and learn quick. Hopefully we don’t need to blow up multiple trading accounts before learning a lesson.
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