My main purpose in starting my blog was to hold myself accountable. I knew that by doing so my trading would improve, because I finally made the huge revelation that I (my brain) was holding back my own profitability for one simple reason. I wasn't being honest with myself. I was constantly making excuses as to why something didn't work.
It was absolutely crucial my trading improve, so I decided to leap forward right to the edge -- and start my blog and start putting everything out there for public consumption and public accountability.
Almost immediately, I found the blog to drastically improve all of my weakest areas of trading -- the mental side of things that were previously holding me back.
The community was very receptive to my blog, so I started the forum. The main purpose of the forum was to give back to others, and give them the tools and the avenue to make similar revelations in their own trading.
So, why start a journal here in the forum?
- Opportunity to be honest with yourself
- Reflect upon what worked, and what didn't
- Improve your trading, take it to the next level
What not to be afraid of:
- People questioning you
- Someone thinking your dumb, or your trades are dumb
- Your charts won't make sense to others
- The instrument you trade isn't popular in the forum
The journal is to help the person posting it (that would be you). Sure, viewers and outsiders looking in can benefit, but the best way they could REALLY benefit would be to start their own journal. You can't be a successful trader by simply copying what others are doing.
I hope to see more of you creating your own journals here on the site and updating them on a regular basis. Your journal can be as detailed or summarized as you wish, it is up to you. I suggest you briefly describe your entries, then post charts showing the days activity. You can go further if you wish by posting Profit and Loss reports. It is entirely up to you.
Mike
Need help? 1) Stop changing things. No new indicators. No new charts. No new methods. Be consistent with what is in front of you first. 2) Start a journal and post to it every day with the trades you made. It will show your strengths and weaknesses. 3) Set goals for yourself that you can reach every day. Make them about how you trade, and not about how much money you make. 4) Accept responsibility for your actions. Stop looking elsewhere to explain away poor performance. You must look within. 5) Have a question? Create a new thread so the community can help.
If you want to support our community, become an Elite Member.
The following 9 users say Thank You to Big Mike for this post:
Need help? 1) Stop changing things. No new indicators. No new charts. No new methods. Be consistent with what is in front of you first. 2) Start a journal and post to it every day with the trades you made. It will show your strengths and weaknesses. 3) Set goals for yourself that you can reach every day. Make them about how you trade, and not about how much money you make. 4) Accept responsibility for your actions. Stop looking elsewhere to explain away poor performance. You must look within. 5) Have a question? Create a new thread so the community can help.
If you want to support our community, become an Elite Member.
Big Mike, thanks for the spreadsheet.
Here is a spreadsheet (you must enable macros) that will capture your screenshot (I use Gadwin PrintScreen, to put it in the paste buffer).
Anyways, you take you screenshot, pop into Excel, hit Ctrl-T, and it creates a TABsheet, puts the date/time on it, moves to a specific row/column, pastes the screen in, resizes the screen, and puts your cursor up top so you can take quick notes.
Hopefully someone can take advantage of this. I like it because it captures the screen I was seeing when I made the decision to get in.
The spreadsheet is unlocked in case people want to change the macros...
Enjoy.
Kirk Out!
PS: My first post, took me a couple of minutes to add the file. Hope people enjoy it.
The following user says Thank You to CaptainKirk for this post:
Linear Mode
