I recently re-read Enhancing Trader Performance (Steenbarger, 2007) because I’m looking to shape not only my own trading experience but also your experience. Very near the beginning of the book, he asks a question:
What makes an expert trader?
- Strong interest and emotional commitment to a particular field
- Desire to reach a high level of attainment in the field
- Willingness to put in the significant time and effort required for this high-level achievement.
Those three conclusions were the high-level results of a study conducted at the University of Chicago in the 1980s by Dr. Benjamin Bloom, tracking the development of 120 individuals acknowledged by professional peers as world class talents. These included concert pianists, sculptors, mathematicians, Olympic swimmers, tennis players, and reach neurologists.
They also found that superior performance—regardless of field—develops roughly in three stages:
Now if you reflect on this table, a few questions should arise:
- Where are you in the performance development cycle?
- Is your purpose properly aligned with all elements necessary? (ex, motivation, activity, mentorship, time)
- Are you applying the three conclusions from above appropriately to your trade career?
From a performance standpoint, it’s straightforward: you’re either hitting your objectives or not.
For beginner traders, perhaps your primary motivation is still having fun. No worries. Have fun. You can develop along the early phase path to be sure that trading is the right course for you. Just try not to forget the techniques you’ve learned in your studies.
For those of you who have committed yourselves to the instructions, you’re assuredly in the Middle Phase from the table above. You’re at the point where developing competence is the motivation—and you now have the skills to practice and the tools to develop those skills.
You should carve out some time each day, each week to further cement yourselves as students of the market with the full intention of development.
