FOUR SIMPLE TRADING GOALS (THAT MAY NOT APPEAR TO HAVE ANYTING TO DO WITH TRADING) http:// 3.28.16
2 P a g e THE FOUR GOALS Goals in trading are the elusive end of the rainbow most of the time. You know the rainbow exists. You know trading exists. You know the earth meets the rainbow somewhere. You know trading is profitable for someone. But you can t seem to ever reach the end of rainbow, in the same way you can t ever seem to hit your goals for your trading. Goals in trading seem to be impossible. I know. I ve tried it. But they aren t. We just may have to tweak what the definition of goal when it comes to trading. That s all What does that mean? Simple. I know that 100% of the people who read this can set a goal of 100% increase in their account this month. I know 100% of those same people would set a goal to never lose a trade again. I know that most people want the product and not the process, the result and not the ride to get there. I
3 P a g e was that guy and still fight some of those same tendencies. I get it. It s Ok. You re normal. Trading goals need to be more general at first to be hit and then work toward more specific and loftier ones. Goals like I want to make 1000 pips a week while possible, is probably not a great place to start. So wait, your saying I am telling you to throw out the idea of never being wrong, making 100% a month, and trying to tell you that you are not going to make trading riches overnight? And I m not going to post any Instagram pics of bikini clad women next to expensive cars next to expensive houses in some tropical destination? I must be full of crap then huh? Decide for yourself I guess. I am pretty much the epitome of a trading miser I guess. No fun at all. But here is the thing. I want you to have a realistic approach that feeds a realistic method that accomplishes realistic goals and that builds what is called Momentum. And momentum is all you need. It s what Jim Collins refers to in Good to Great as pushing on the fly wheel. Eventually the fly
4 P a g e wheel s purpose is to move on its own, but it takes a lot of force to get it going initially. Momentum, or the fly wheel, will carry you as far as you want to go. But you have to build it first. You have to create it. You have to lose sleep for it and want it and believe it is possible. And that is why I m writing this to you. I want to give you a few easy goals to hit to help build that momentum. I want to set you on the right track. Simply put these four goals are as follows: 1) Do 10 Sit Ups or Push Ups a day (Self Discipline) 2) Say Thank You to Someone Every Day for a week (Gratitude for little and much) 3) Take 1% of your current trading account out in cash and hold it in your hand and keep it at your desk. (knowing the value of money in your life)
5 P a g e 4) Take the time to identify what you really, I mean REALLY want from trading (decision making and owning risk) Now you make get to this point and say seriously? This guy is nuts! None of those have anything to do with trading! Your right, on the surface. None of those things have anything to do with trading but they all START the process of putting trading in the proper perspective in your life. my story I will explain them all in detail in a few minutes but first, let me tell you SHONN CAMPBELL, TRADER EXTRODINARE I was the classic case of trader gone wild. If there were beads handed out for every time I made a bad trade because I didn t plan or tried to catch
6 P a g e the move or felt the need to make money I would be able to fill a wall that would put even the most decorated Mardi Gras goer to shame. I was the worst. I worked hard to gain knowledge, but not the things mentioned above. I wanted so badly to be a trader! But I didn t want to be a better person. Someone reliable and honest and fair. I wanted the easy way out. I wanted to transfer my risk to anyone and everyone around me and not take responsibility for my outcomes. I was, in every sense of the word, a spoiled brat. A loser. I quit everything I ever started and didn t control my attitude. Attitude. I may spend more time on that later. It truly is the control valve for your trading and your life. fits... Anyway, not to paint a crappy picture of myself but hey, if the shoe Like I said. I worked very hard to gain knowledge. I know trading as good as anyone. But I could never really put it into practice because of my attitude and my thought life. So, I set out to change my thoughts and the four goals you see above were pretty close to the ones I set for myself.
7 P a g e So let s jump into them GOAL #1: DO 10 SITUPS OR PUSHUPS EVERYDAY What the heck am I talking about?! Self-discipline. Self-control. It s one of the key factors to any and all successful traders. It s not market knowledge. It s not needing to know more. It s all about being more disciplined, control, and determined to make what you CAN ALREADY DO work for you. If you can t do 10 pushups, do one. Then do two. Then three. The simple act of daily repetition of something you may not really want to do will help start you down a better path to being a more disciplined and fulfilled person in trading or whatever you do. It s about starting. If you can teach yourself to do a pushup, you can teach yourself to hold back and not trade. If you stuff your face with Twinkies and then tell everyone I don t know why I put on 40 lbs. then you are dishonest and will always revert to what feels good and not what s good for you. Do a pushup. Turn down a sweet. Control your mind. Control your body. It s the first step to being successful at this trading game.
8 P a g e GOAL #2: SAY THANK YOU TO SOMEONE EVERY DAY THIS WEEK Again, simple right? And has absolutely nothing to do with trading right? Well it may have nothing to do with the charts or pushing the buttons but it has everything to do with how you act while trading. Let s say you put on a trader today. You take 1 mini lot and it works in your favor for 18 pips. You have a $1500 account and that $18 dollar profit accounts for about a 1% gain in your account. We have two ways that we can react to this: 1) say well that isn t even enough to buy dinner tonight! I need to go trade again. And so you proceed to go back to the market and loose not only what you gained, but also more. Or 2) I can say thank you to God for providing another piece of my needs. It may not seem like much but time and effort will accomplish the things you want to accomplish, not a spoiled this isn t good enough kind of attitude. There I am again, back to attitude. It s a reoccurring theme
9 P a g e That s why I want you to develop the idea of being thankful. What you did today is enough if you can learn to be thankful for it. If not, you will throw as many tantrums as you want and the market will never change. GOAL #3: TAKE 1% OF YOUR CURRENT TRADING ACCOUNT OUT OF THE BANK IN CASH AND KEEP IT AT YOUR TRADING DESK Sometimes I have a problem associating trading money with real money. It s numbers on a screen that don t do anything for me in the immediate. I don t get a paycheck like most people. I have a tendency to have a floating p&l that doesn t even feel like real money. your mind. Take cash out and leave it on your desk so that it can stay real in How does it feel to think about throwing that 1% of your account in the garbage? Like now you can physically do that! And then go grab it back and remind yourself that this is not a good feeling. If we can understand that it doesn t feel good, we can avoid it. After that, you will think twice about risking more than that 1% on your next trade.
10 P a g e This exercise is meant to bring perspective. Keeping perspective when all hell is breaking loose around you will be an invaluable trait to possess. This goal will help start you on that path. GOAL #4: DEFINE WHAT YOU ACTUALLY WANT FROM TRADING This one was really tough for me. So many times people automatically go to money and I have to call bull crap on them. If all you wanted was money, your current job would be more suitable and you would be more content. I don t want to hear about the money you want that your current job won t give you because I guarantee you, if you are not putting in the effort to be successful where you are at right now, you will never do it in trading. If you hate your job, you will hate trading. So many times I see people idealize the world of trading. It s lifeless and soulless. It creates nothing beautiful to put back in the world and it never makes anyone happy. It s money. That s it. But people are forever making it out to be some worthwhile pursuit or some great calling. I can do this or that
11 P a g e with the money I make. Nope again. If you really wanted to do that, you would already be doing it right where you re at. So this is about defining what you want. Do you want a crappy, hard, labor intensive, mind numbing job? Then maybe you will make it in the financial industry. If not, then stay where you are and learn to appreciate what you have before trying to take another mountain. I wanted to be someone. Everything I ever did in my life was never good enough. Somehow trading was supposed to change all of that. It didn t. I had to learn contentment, hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and commitment in trading. If I didn t learn it here, I would have to learn it somewhere else. Don t idealize trading. Describe to yourself very clearly what you want to do in the trading industry and how you will go about doing it. If you have questions on this one, feel free to talk to me. I m pretty much an expert on this one. Email me shonn@shonncampbell.com This is obviously not a trading plan or a trading system or anything to do with a chart, but sometimes that s what we actually need. Sometimes it s
12 P a g e good to step back from the charts for a few minutes and realize that to be successful, profitable, content, fulfilled, we have to work towards not only a career goal, but a goal of becoming the person that can accomplish that task. I would love to help you on that journey, both in the journey of becoming a better trader and a better person. Find out more at Have an amazing day! Shonn