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Good Day Rookies! How is that work on the objectives coming along? Do you find it difficult or easy? Most folks find it very difficult to describe what they really want. Oh, sure they can throw out a few things and say that is what they want but when you push them for clarity it can sometimes trip them up because they probably haven’t spent the time and energy to think it through. Now, for some of you, this concept may have been just new to you last week and I wouldn’t expect that you have worked through it quite yet but if you have started to think about it then kudos to you, if you have written down some thoughts then that is even better. If you have started to build a plan for yourself and put it on paper then you are well on your way to developing a master skill that will fuel your trading achievement.

Last week we talked about objectives but we really didn’t delve into what objectives are and more importantly, what are objectives that are both reasonable and achievable. You see when I am mentoring a student I begin asking them a series of questions to find out where they are at from a trading perspective? I ask things like what do you want to achieve from your trading? I usually get a variety of answers anything from I want to make a million dollars to I just want to supplement my income. These are great ideas or concepts if you will but it really doesn’t give the person a perspective of what kinds of success they want to achieve in trading. If I get these types of answers then it is time to probe a little deeper. Ok, if you want to make a million dollars then how long are you willing to work to get that million dollars and do you know of anyone else that has done what you want to do? This question usually stops folks in their tracks because they soon realize that perhaps their expectations may need to be readjusted. I will give a short example of this very thing. I was once teaching a class of budding traders and there was a very nice lady at the front of the class and when I asked the “what do you want from trading” question she blurted out “I want to make a million dollars trading!” I, of course, followed up with the “how soon do you expect this to happen” question and she said, “in a year!” Now, I must give her props for her spunk and enthusiasm but I really needed to find out if she believed this could be done or was she wishing for something instead of planning to actually achieve something great.

So, I asked two more follow up questions, first, “how much capital are you starting with?” and then “do you know of anyone that has done what you want to do?”. She was reluctant to give an answer to the first question as I don’t think her starting capital was where she wished it to be. I did give the secret to becoming a millionaire…..and that was to become a billionaire and then start trading without any education or training and you will quickly become a millionaire. She found this much less funny than I did. I then went back to question two and she did not know anyone that had become a millionaire within trading in their first year. I told her I didn’t know anyone either but I did tell that I knew lots of folks that become millionaires over time. So, being as enthusiastic as she was she asked me how these people I knew became millionaires over time? Can you hazard a guess as to what I told her? I told her that folks made it a mission to learn their craft so well that they could not help but succeed but that it doesn’t come overnight. I also went on to say that the way these folks really succeeded was to have a clear vision of what they are after and this is where our objectives become so important.

So let’s say you have decided your objective is to make 20% per year with no more than a max drawdown of 5%. This would require finding trades that risk 1 to a reward of 4, Do you think this would be possible? Do you think this is repeatable on a large scale? I can tell from experience this is very possible but it requires planning, experience, and perseverance. So let’s start to think about the planning phase if we have our objectives in place what is the next step? The next step is that we must go and find these trades that will meet our objectives, but what if your new to trading and you don’t know how to find these trades? Then you need to go back and focus on your skillsets that will produce the results you desire. You see there is a path for everyone in trading but it may not be the one that is straight forward and it may not be the one we envision for ourselves when we first begin, just like the million-dollar lady in the class I referred to, she was looking at the end result and dreaming that it would just show for her and this couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Success in anything takes hard work and dedication which if you are reading this blog and you are an active member of the Tackle Trading community then you have demonstrated a willingness to go forth and I would hope that you would be willing to go further to get what you really really really want.

Over the next few weeks, e will continue to break down the things we need to achieve the success we crave, we will get more and more specific as we move forward and I trust that through this process you will be able to find a path for you that leads to your ultimate success, whatever you choose that to be.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Friends,

Be Well All,

Coach Holmes