Last year we focused on starting where you were with what you had. I started over 6 times with $1500 in my Suretrader account this year. We only have 4 days left in this quarter but to put this in perspective, I have made $45339.30 to date in this year trading small. I started a community in the time span of a weekend and have spent all year trying to turn it into something special. All of this while trying to focus on my trading and teaching in chat. I proved what you can do because you in the community saw it unfold live.
The focus again this year is starting where you are with what you have. Getting started perusing a goal or dream is one of the hardest things we face as adults. Too often we wait for the perfect time or the perfect opportunity and it never comes. It doesn’t take near as much to get started as you think. I changed the dynamic of my community going into this year to provide all those who are sitting on the fence waiting to get the money, or the time to get started an opportunity to do so. Just by joining the AJT community you get a first-class education free.
So, you can start now, work at your own pace, and develop the skills you need to be a successful trader. Don’t worry about trying to save 3k to 4k to join a community and start learning, or saving for extra monitors or a trading computer. For as little as $50 a month, if you elect an annual subscription, you can learn and trade live beside me every day. You get access to the live day, swing, and trading psychology classes as well as the recordings. My goal is to educate you and help you develop the skills needed to build a successful trading career.
Back in October I started the 4th quarter challenge. We needed to finish the fourth quarter strong to set us up for the next year. I pointed out the obvious:
The first 3 quarters are history
The only thing that mattered then was the 4th quarter
If you were unhappy with your first 3 quarters performance, then:
You had to change your mindset and habits
You had to identify and change everything that created your poor performance
The worse thing we could have done was continue to do the same thing and expect different results.
Let’s look at some numbers. I had 21 traders to sign up. I had a goal of 25 so this was good. However, I had 9 to not stay past the 1st month. I started with $1500 in the toughest market that I have seen recently, and I struggled to make any progress through the first 3 weeks of October. I only ended up making $399. The struggle was real and in the back of my mind even though I was frustrated I was happy that you were able to see the real deal. Unfortunately, some did not see it that way. In my experience in education I have a good feeling that these are the prospective traders that may not have what it takes to see these tough times through and become successful. You have to have mental fortitude and take the bad times with the good. Now I am sitting at $10,304.30
This 4th quarter challenge was about facing adversity head on and building a foundation that we can take into the next year. If you stuck with me, you saw this transition first hand and the mental fortitude needed to get through the hard times and into prosperity. You saw exactly what it took live and unscripted, which at times was very embarrassing. I didn’t quit. I didn’t give up. But if you quit during this process, you missed the most important and valuable lessons of the 4th quarter.
To finish summing it up I had 12 stay active and out of that 12, I have 7 that have subscribed for the 1st quarter and one took advance of the early bird yearly subscription deal. 4 I guess are still on the fence!
You guys know by now that I am a college sports junkie so in line with that I want to share this example with you. I watched South Florida and Texas Tech in the Birmingham Bowl. As you can see, Texas Tech won the 1st quarter but they didn’t finish it strong. They lost the 2nd, won the 3rd, but didn’t finish it strong. Meanwhile South Florida stayed consistent and continued to build momentum and finished the 4th quarter strong. That’s what won them the game. The body of work they put in during the 1st quarter, not folding up under adversity, and finishing the 4th quarter strong!
This year, we are not only looking toward the first quarter and wining it, we’re looking at finishing it strong. Here is an example of a team, who didn’t have the skill, talent, or the capital backing them that their opponent had, but they won the 1st half and finished strong, and in turn won the game. The game for Wofford was one in the foundation they laid in the first half. The blows they landed in the 1st half set the stage and they followed through. Sure, they took hits as well, but they remained focused and stuck to their game plan, UNC did not. Wofford College is a very small independent liberal arts school here in South Carolina. Enrollment was 1,683 this past semester. UNC is a public institution with an enrollment of 18,523 this semester and is a college basketball powerhouse.
This is what we need to do as traders going into this first quarter. Don’t worry about the professional traders who may be more talented, experienced, or capitalized. We stick to our game plan and see it through. There is a lane for us. Sure, we will take hits in the form of losing trades, but if we stay in our lane and stick to our game plan, we will be victorious. So lets make 2018 our best year yet!
Ed
Great article and love the comparison to sports. Thanks Coach Ed!
ReplyDelete