The disciplined trader’s approach to life and investing: Part 2

In last week’s article I shared my roadmap for success that was shared to me by a personal mentor, Wayne Berry of Top Gun Business Academy. I have found that by applying the principles of this roadmap over the past 20 years, to all areas of my life, I have achieved a great deal of personal growth.

Before we take a look at the final two principles in the five- step roadmap, let’s briefly recap on the first three areas:

Average people don’t commit

There are many who want to be successful, whether it is in trading the sharemarket, business or other areas of life. However, there are very few people who actually commit to taking massive action to achieve their goals. You want to be one of those people who commit.

Be 100% responsible for yourself

Don’t play the blame game. Successful people take responsibility for themselves and the outcomes they want to achieve. Just take a look at Oprah Winfrey, for example: born into utter poverty in rural Mississippi, she eventually became one of the world’s most influential women. Winfrey achieved this by using her upbringing as motivation to achieve great success, rather than as an excuse to stay stuck in her humble early environment.

Discomfort is good – it’s a sign of growth

Healthy discomfort is good as it is a sign you are growing as a person. I was an introvert in my younger days – I was far more comfortable standing by myself at a party than starting a conversation with someone. Yet I knew that to achieve success I needed to feel comfortable talking to and holding the attention of large crowds of people. I began attending classes to help me with public speaking. Was it uncomfortable? It sure was, but public speaking is now something I love to do simply because I stepped outside my comfort zone.

The final two principles of my roadmap to success explain exactly what you need to do to achieve great success in trading, investing or any other area of your life. Let’s take a look:

Make mistakes and learn from them

I have read dozens of books on success, from biographies to studies on how to create wealth, to how successful people achieved their success. The overwhelming message coming through these books are that successful people make more mistakes than anyone else to get where they are. This is because they stretch their comfort zone: it means exploring new and unfamiliar things, and taking calculated risks on the journey towards self-mastery. 

When people commit to explore – to stand on the edge – they accept they will make mistakes but that this is simply part of the process. Let me make this equation clear: mistakes equal learning experience. The second part of this equation is most important, as there is little point in making mistakes if you do not learn from them. Just like a young child learns quickly that a hot stove is not something to touch, so to must you reflect on errors that were made, understand why the mistake occurred and then correct the course for next time.

When teaching traders I tell them that they will make mistakes and that this will occur all through their trading career, and so they should just accept that fact and move on. Often traders and investors make a mistake that causes them to make a loss. Rather than investigate the reasons that led to this mistake and correct their course, they blame the market, their broker or even stop investing in the sharemarket altogether.

Rather than sitting back in your comfort zone, commit yourself to explore, make mistakes and adapt as this will lead you to down the path of success. So if what you are doing right now is not working for you, don’t wait until it is too late to make the changes necessary to achieve your goals.

Commit to having fun

While this last one is not really one of Wayne Berry’s tips on how to be a top gun in business or sales, I believe that unless you are doing what you love, you won’t commit to anything, or your will do it half-heartedly.

When it comes to investing, being half-hearted is dangerous and leads to losses, or at best, poor performance. Sadly, this is the way the majority undertake their own wealth creation journey and it’s the reason why 70% of Australians retire on some sort of pension.  

Now you have come full circle. You now possess a roadmap that can assist you to achieve extraordinary growth in any area of your life. You also have a decision you need to make.

Will you simply continue to move through life in your current state, or will you commit to taking massive action and apply these principles to both your investing and life in general? I hope you decide on the latter as I can assure you that a truly amazing personal transformation will occur in your business and life if you do.