Trading Lessons From A Winter Olympian

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It always fascinates me what makes elite performers tick. When I read

about an athlete who won gold four years ago I was immediately struck by

the parallel to trading.

The heartache of missing out on her dream of going to the Olympics

previously, drove her on in every part of her life to make sure that the next

time she made it.

During training, everything was revolved around the key question of

“is this going to help me get to the Olympics?”

Whether you’re fighting for a place at a Winter Olympics or trying to get to

the stage of consistently earning a living by performing in the markets,

one thing that’s certain is that desire is simply not enough.

This athlete clearly had a strong desire to represent her country at the games (parallel that with traders wanting to

be consistently profitable), but missing out is what gave her the

determination to get there.

And as much as desire and determination can give you the fuel to learn and train, there’s usually an extra

step that top performers take too.

If you’ve ever listened to top traders, there’s usually something they do that

most others wouldn’t bother with.

- trawling through trades manually to better understand their performance

- doing a top-down view on the broad market

- meditating in order to help them control

themselves when the going gets tough

top traders go above and beyond what most others do.

This really underscores their attitude in general.

Trading is their business, their

profession and they will succeed.

For the athlete, watching her diet with precision, getting enough rest, doing

extra training sessions etc. etc. are the types of things that will have

culminated in getting to that one potentially life-changing day.

Everything so far has been about giving yourself the opportunity and

the stage to perform.

Once you get there you have to be able to convert that opportunity.

I used to shoot a fair bit of pool and I was pretty good. I remember going on a

terrible streak where I just could not finish the black (or 8 ball).

Now this was a pretty infuriating way to

lose games – where you clear up and then miss your chance to win on the final ball.

You see your opponent slowly potting their balls and it can be pretty tough to get another opportunity whilst they’re doing it given the number of their balls

that are now in your way.

Then someone said to me that I was suffering from “black eye”. I’d never

heard of this before but the guy assured me it was pretty common.

Simply put, it’s when a player can’t pot

the black due to nerves.

Now I wasn’t aware of this, but as soon as I started loosening up on the

black, I started winning again.

In the same kind of way, competing for a medal at the Winter Olympics or

taking a setup that you’ve been waiting ages for is all about managing

fear and expectation.

This particular athlete talked about this “moment of truth” in an

important way.

To her, it seems like in the moment the outcome no longer mattered as much

as the performance itself.

In fact, she had purposely avoided knowing how others had performed.

This athlete had surrendered and in

doing so she trusted herself implicitly.

And it’s in this way that you’re much more likely to be able to let all your

training and preparation shine through in your level of performance.

Sources of inspiration don’t always come from the places we usually

expect.

So why don’t you broaden your horizons and see what you might

learn.