How to Maintain Your 2018 Trading Goals.
How are you doing on your 2018 trading goals? If you’re feeling stuck, frustrated, distracted, or generally uninspired, don’t worry: you’re not alone. Many traders feel this way at one time or another. To help you avoid fizzling out, review these tips to help renew your motivation and help you stick to your goals:
- Reign it in. Don’t focus on too many goals at once, otherwise, you’ll become overwhelmed and your attention will be distracted. Narrow it down to 1-3 goals at any given time.
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- Get specific. Physically write down your goals, and be as specific as you can in defining them (get detailed about the what, why, who, when, and where). Physically writing down your goals helps make them real, which helps put a fire in your belly about attaining them.
- Break your goals down. Big goals can be intimidating. For each major goal, break it down into a series of smaller steps, with specific, achievable steps. It will help you stay on track.
- Get focused. Work on completing 1-3 of the tasks required to complete the steps you defined in #3. This might be on a daily or weekly basis, but apply yourself with laser focus!
- Get visual. Create a physical visual reminder of your goals: pin images that inspire you (cars, luxury apartments…whatever!) to a bulletin board to help you maintain enthusiasm and remind you why you’re doing this in the first place!
- Make a plan of action. Organize daily and weekly goals in one place, so that you can check them off as you complete them. You may enlist a friend to review your list, too, to keep you accountable (more on that in #7).
- Seek accountability. Make yourself accountable via a mentor or a trusted friend. Have check-ins with this individual on a frequent basis, so that they can keep you on track (and kick your butt when necessary. You can meet by phone or in person, whatever works for you.
- Keep track of your progress. As you begin to tick off goals, identify performance metrics by which you can measure your progress. Are you making the same or better progress week by week? If not, take corrective action.
- Celebrate your success! As you accomplish goals, celebrate! It might be just taking a moment to appreciate your progress, or it might be a more tangible celebration like treating yourself to a meal out. It will help maintain your motivation in a big way!
- Use the many resources available to you. There are plenty of motivational resources out there, such as TED talks, YouTube videos from mentors, and trader biographies; seek out the ones that keep you inspired.