The only constant is change. This moment is unique and none other will ever match it. From the moment we are born, we are growing, growing older. It’s not optional. It happens whether we want to or not. Growth sometimes is painful, sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s almost unnoticeable until you see someone after they have been away for a while, then you notice the change.
Evolution though, that is optional. Evolution is a self guided growth where you have a choice about what changes you will make. Time is passing, but what you are doing with your time? Are you evolving? As traders we tend to be very rigid in our evolution. We get stuck. However we must evolve. That does not mean simply to change for the sake of change. It means to evolve with a purpose to move to a higher level of performance, of ability, for a greater result with less effort.
We have updated our website. It was time to strip away all that was not important relative to our mission. To get rid of links, and pages, and information that no longer served our purpose. It was time to evolve.
The question is how are you evolving? When life isn’t adding up, start subtracting. Breaking it down to a few basic elements. When trading isn’t adding up, start subtracting. What are you removing? This is where it can get painful because we will have to let go of things that serve no real purpose but we are emotionally attached to. A timeframe. An indicator? A news feed? Are those things necessary to do what you originally set out to do? Make consistent profits each day? If your honest, the answer is no.
Einstein said “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler”. Evolution is about following the simplest path to trading success and cutting the rest loose. Applying the 80/20 rule. 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. It makes perfect sense to evolve and let go of the other 80% efforts that produce the 20% results.
This is where we have to make a choice to let go of things we have been hanging on to, even though they never worked. It’s our attachment to those things that makes it difficult. Our evolution at this point is to focus only on what’s necessary, what works consistently to reach our daily trading goals and let the rest go. And from there continue to evolve, stripping away little by little, those things that distract us from our goals. It may not be on the chart. It could be in our trading environment. Our morning routine. Whether or not we choose to exercise before we sit down to trade. It’s not always about the chart or the market.
Evolution is an ongoing process of choice. There is something to learn about the market and yourself each day. It’s not a question of whether we change, it’s a question of whether we evolve. We are the biggest variable in our trading, not the market. So it comes down to our own personal evolution, using past experiences as a feedback loop, and then making the choices that best serve our goals moving forward.
We invite you to join in our evolution as you evolve in your trading and strive to keep it simple.
