The disciplined trader’s approach to life and investing

Just over 20 years ago I was a young fellow and thought I was moving in the right direction in terms of both my career and creation of personal wealth. However, times changed and a ‘GFC-like’ situation caused me to take stock of where I was – and how to move forward in both of those areas. Life sometimes seems to have a habit of giving us a kick just when we think we have it all worked out, and to me these kicks were a wakeup call to start a journey of self-discovery rather than be complacent and blame my situation for what I was experiencing.

My exploring led me to do some training with Wayne Berry of Top Gun Business Academy. Wayne gave me a roadmap on how to become successful at sales and business. This roadmap has served me well since I first started to apply it to many areas of my life all those years ago, giving me the skills to create a successful business that helps others to achieve their own financial freedom. Briefly, Wayne’s five-step roadmap to success was:

• Average people don’t commit. 

• Be 100% responsible for yourself

• Discomfort is good and a sign of growth

• Make mistakes and learn from them so you correct yourself

• Have fun and do what you love

Given that becoming more financially secure or creating an income stream from the sharemarket is a goal many people have, how do we use Wayne’s teachings to be a top-gun trader, investor or a top gun in any other area of life? This week, let’s take a look at the first three steps of the roadmap and how you can apply each step to any area of your own life

Average people don’t commit

Having been involved in helping people in all areas of investment for nearly 20 years, I can honestly say that this is the reason why so many fail in both business and investment. Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth, talks of people having a 10-minute entrepreneurial seizure by going into business without any thought other than wanting to sack their boss and replace a job.

To me that sounds exactly like someone wanting me to teach them to trade the markets. The problem with both those wanting to go into business and those wanting to be a self-employed trader is that they fail to commit. In general they think that by just setting up a business or by opening a broking account that magically the floodgates will open and money will roll in the door. So rather than commit to undertaking the right process that safeguards their future, they subject themselves to high risk. The result 90% of new traders and businesses don’t make money.    

Be 100% responsible for yourself

Don’t play the blame game. You only have to watch the current affairs shows to see people blame everyone else for their lot in life. Successful people take responsibility for themselves and the outcomes they would like to achieve. They don’t blame the government, the economy or anyone else. They make the best of what they are given. A mentor of mine once told me to surround myself with people who expect more from me than I do from myself, or who I call ‘unreasonable friends’. These people should support you to be responsible for yourself as they don’t take excuses and don’t allow you to make them.

Discomfort is good and a sign of growth

As the old saying goes, “no pain, no gain”, and while I don’t believe this means you need to injure yourself, I do believe it means we need to move into areas that cause us discomfort. By committing to stretching your comfort zone, you challenge yourself to adapt and as humans we are fantastic at adapting to new situations.

Once you break through the discomfort and adapt you have grown as a individual, as a trader, as a businessperson. The sharemarket constantly changes. Smart traders realise that “doing it the way we have always done it” is simply an excuse not to grow and adapt. Average people are afraid to move outside their comfort zone, and I have never met a successful trader, business owner or person who wants to be average.

So there you have it: the first three steps on the roadmap towards being a top gun in trading, investing or any other area of your life.

Next week, I will step you through the final two principles but in the meantime consider the areas of your life that you could start applying the first three principles to right now. I guarantee that if you commit to the application of these values in your own life you can achieve anything.