Questions for Learning the Lessons

Learning your lessons is an important part of improving at anything and trading is no exception. One way to make sure that lessons are taken on, is by reviewing mistakes and successes and asking the right questions.

Below are a couple of questions that can get you some good answers and help motivate you to not repeat the same mistakes. Here's how it works:

1) During a quiet moment, get yourself a pen and paper and then relax and drift back in your mind to a time when you really messed up a trade.

2) Relive the moment, let yourself get annoyed about it, really feel the frustration and then ask yourself:

If only I had ............ I wouldn't have [insert what went wrong here]

3) For a full minute, write down whatever comes into your mind as answers to the "........" part.

4) Shake off any bad feelings and thoughts. Look down the list and highlight each of the answers that really resonate with you.

5) Of the highlighted answers, find one that is the key point and write it onto a post-it note, in the form: "If only I had [your answer] I wouldn't have [insert what went wrong here]" and stick it on the side of your monitor.

So, this is the first step. This is using what is called "away from" motivation, to help you notice and stop repeating a mistake. The other form of motivation is "towards". To tap into that, do the following:

1) Once again, in quiet moment, go find your pen and paper again and then relax and drift back in your mind to a time when you really did well on a trade. A time that you are really chuffed about.
2) Relive the moment, let yourself once more relive the elation and the buzz. Mentally, pat yourself on the back and feel proud. Whilst feeling those feelings, ask yourself:

Because I did ............ I succeeded in [insert what went right here]

3) For a minute, write down whatever comes into your mind as answers to the "........" part.
4) Look down the list and highlight each of the best answers.
5) Of the highlighted answers, find one that is the key point and write it onto a post-it note, in the form: "Because I did [best answer] I succeeded in [insert what worked here]" and stick it on the side of your monitor, next to the other one.