Human Scale
"Think of the whole universe of matter and how small your share. Think about the expanse of time and how brief — almost momentary — the part marked for you. Think of the workings of fate and how infinitesimal your role."
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Another meditation today, which is a struggle to try to relate it to trading. I do though, like the last couple of lines from today's meditation and I quote; "You're just one person among many, doing your best among many. That's all you need to do." This sums us up as traders! We are one among many and we are doing our best to learn develop and evolve on our trading journey. That's all we need to do.
We look at potential targets to trade, based on the rules/criteria for our strategies being fully met. Then we manage those qualifying trades to completion. The vast majority will be more a case of monitoring as we get matched for our pre-targeted profit. The occasional trades that don't go as expected/hoped, are the ones where we have to step in and react to what is happening early enough, before the loss becomes unmanageable and a serious threat to our trading bank!
This is why we have to be fully focused and "in the zone" every time that we are monitoring a trade, prepared to expect the unexpected, so that we can react accordingly, rather than failing to react quickly enough and watching in shock as things start to go wrong! We must avoid allowing this to happen at all costs, so that we can stay in the game, to be ready for the next battle.
Patience and discipline also play their part too of course. There may be periods during a trading session where nothing meets the rules/criteria for your strategies. Staying patient to wait for the right opportunity and being disciplined enough to not force trades that don't fit, are crucial elements of trading and vital for long term growth and success.
If you practice using your strategies repetitively, day in and day out, you will get better and better. You also need to work on your patience and discipline, to stick totally to the plan, without veering off course, through distractions, noise of others, or generally becoming bored and trading speculatively with no research or even on impulse!
There are no short cuts to becoming successful at trading. Put in the hard work and you will eventually, reap the rewards!
You've got this, I promise you!