I’m always hearing people talking about how much they really want to succeed. But when I hear this kind of talk, I also find people who confuse a

strong desire to be successful, for genuine motivation to make a real go

of trading.

People want to succeed and they want to reap the potential for considerable

rewards as a result. But whilst they might have a strong urge to find success, they haven’t necessarily

found that considerable drive needed to achieve it.

Desire for something is of course directly related to the motivation required to

achieve success. But there’s a critical mass before it turns into that unshakeable

motivation – and desire can stem from several different sources, with each

individual being spurred on by something that resonates particularly with them.

Some people want to achieve financial freedom for example, whilst others see trading as yet another challenge

they would like to conquer.

If you really have a strong enough desire to motivate you to give trading

your very best shot, then you’ll prioritize it over everything else. Work

commitments, family life, personal routines etc. all should be worked

around rather than acting as constant distractions.

They will always be there, so it’s really important to recognize how they

might affect your trading efforts and work to mitigate their impact. But

prioritization is also proportional to belief and the value you place on an

activity.

The value people place on trading isn’t really too much of a question. Belief in your own ability to succeed however,

is an extremely important factor in maintaining motivation – if you feel that your efforts are being wasted,

why would you keep trying?

Determination is the resilience you have in the face of failure. That ability

to take your losses, shake them off and move on to the next task.

The problem with trading is that taking losses requires far more emotional

control than many other tasks in life. You’ll learn a great deal about yourself

as you trade and it can help you to grow as a person.

But as you learn and face setbacks and go through a variety of emotional

rollercoasters, unless you are actually seeing some sort of return on your

efforts it’s easy to find other things to do when you should be working on

your trading.

This is especially true when it comes to work that you might find less exhilarating. Doing your daily

preparation, maintaining a proper journal, analyzing your trade logs – whatever it is you particularly find

boring.

Of course it’s easy to argue that none of these are actually boring and if they

are, you can reinvent them to turn them into enjoyable tasks.

Nevertheless, there’s always a particular task that you won’t like very much. Whatever it is, a truly motivated individual will get through it in spite of

not enjoying the task –

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’”

- Muhammad Ali