Look, we get it… the thought of making money from the financial markets is appealing to the newcomer (and even experienced trader). Appealing enough to invest some time (often a great deal) and some money (often a great deal).

At this stage, it is “interesting” (even exciting), but NOT committed.

You may even have been told it is easy if you do x,y,z or use this magical indicator, by the plethora of “gurus” simple clambering to relieve you of even more of your cash for that magical “holy grail” of approaches.

We are still at ‘interesting’ not committed.

The interest or motivation that drives you to this point is clear, you may even have begun to plan in your mind how you are going to spend your winnings, work less, live the dream.
Intangible, far-off pipe dreams are easy to contemplate and the market is going to pay for it!. We can imagine ourselves as some heroic ninja trader magically just making it happen (and some do magically create results on a ‘doesn’t really matter’ demo account).

YES! Still, this is still just ‘interesting’ not yet committed.

However, when we commit to the daily practice of trying to put in place those micro-make-it-happen steps… this dream begins to fade. It’s replaced by the cold realization that there is some work…some hard work to be done.

That’s not what you subscribed to with that early interest is it, it should be easy to make money, shouldn’t it?

What most traders do…
Rather than engaging (volition) in this hard work, we choose to try to short-cut. This has two logical outcomes:
1. Firstly, it continues to maintain our interest..no more.
2. Secondly, it is unlikely to make us any money trading.

We jump from program to program, indicator to indicator, vehicle to vehicle, read multiple articles, participate in forums, and yet the two logical outcomes above from our “interest” are still the case.

There is no real point in banging on about psychology this and discipline that, we could point you in the direction of “7 things you can do to alter your trading results”, put ten other game-changing articles in front of you but nothing may change.

That is, nothing will change unless you are prepared, that’s REALLY prepared, absolutely COMMITTED to making it happen..simple!

You could learn and have the system and tools to have sustainably great results, measure aspects of your trading so you can work out what might be going on with your behaviour, and yet even these may make no difference to the majority of the trading population.
So, what is the difference between the “norm” who wish they had on-going positive trading results and the others who really do?

Quite simply it is the level of commitment they are prepared to put in. It moves beyond just interested. Are you ready to take this step?

So, what do we mean by commitment?

Commitment is not:
1. Knowing some stuff
2. Doing some stuff
3. Believing some stuff can happen
“Some” is NOT good enough! Period!

Commitment is:
1. Seeking out knowledge that will make a difference and learning it to the point where it becomes an integral part of you as a trader and the systems you develop and actually use.
2. Doing ALL of the right things on a consistent basis
3. Developing a passionate belief that something good could happen in your trading is replaced by the certainty that you can have sustained results that only evidence can provide.

So let’s cut to the chase..how committed are you?

It easy to evaluate, just look at your behaviours…
1. Are you seeking out real learning that can make a difference in what you are doing or taking the short cut in the information you have (or can have access) to, and trying to replace that with a different indicator, strategy etc?
2. Are you doing the right things ALWAYS or just when things go well (or not so well) – which starts of course by learning what the right things are?
3. Pssst! Here is a secret…You will never find the evidence to create that certainty that will keep you “safe” in those trickier market times unless you actually invest the commitment to measure what is happening and make sure these are the right things to measure (and this is not just trade profit/loss!). There are few things more motivating than being able to provide some evidence of success.

So how does what are currently doing stand up when you look at those three behaviours?

The real trading EDGE
We have heard all of the excuses, all of the reasons, every “my homework was eaten by the dog” story that it is possible to hear. The reality is that trading success thing is within you and the level to which you are prepared to commit.
The striving for a “trading edge”, which we will define as having an advantage over other market participants, is yours for the taking but only if you start by taking that interest and trade-changing commitment.

It all starts with accepting what you are doing now..be honest… Removing all of the reasons “why not”, looking at your behaviour and ask yourself are you really committed?
We can do my part, give those who are committed the support, the learning programmes (see ‘First Steps’, ‘Next Steps’ and ‘Inner Circle’) that aim to fill gaps in knowledge, but with the “C-word”, which is your part, that is when good things can happen in your trading.

So, Let’s finish with a mission (as it is these that are at the basis of making sure your commitment has the right focus)

So ask the following questions and , of  course, commit to following through on the following:
1. What can you learn that you don’t/partially know that could make the difference? List your top three and seek out the answers (YES! We can help see <insert link>)
2. What are you not doing now that you know would contribute to your trading, even if it seems hard to start? It may be to develop a COMPREHENSIVE trading plan, starting a journal etc.
3. What are you going to measure that may offer some evidence that you can REALLY do this!

One last bit of good news…you CAN make the choice NOW whether you stay interested or becoming committed. That the easy bit and your first vital step.
Trade safe and exercise your choice to commit.