Let’s face it- to be the best, to have lasting success, and to be at the top of your game, you need to constantly refine your strategies, your methods as well as your goals.
No matter what line of work you are in, if you are determined to be the best, that would entail continuous self-learning. Becoming a better stock trader also demands the same level of discipline and positive mindset to continuously learn and improve. If you are on the path of wanting to improve your trading skill, then start manifesting these behaviors today.
#1 Build your commitment to change
Part of becoming a better trader is to commit to the desire to change. You need to think it, manifest it, and act on it to truly see changes taking place. Becoming a better stock trader includes changing your routine, behaviors, and the way you think. You need to be willing to take action because you care about the results. A high commitment to change is the essence that fuels a person’s desire to take the next step, to keep things going, and to always look for solutions whenever there is a problem.
Ask yourself how badly do you want to become a better trader? What kinds of sacrifices are you willing to take to become a better trader? What is it that is important to me as a trader and why do I need to change? What are the things I care most about? We need to have a strong commitment that engages us to change and to sustain.
#2 Train your brain to be comfortable with uncertainty
Things are not always going to work out the way you want them to on your path to become a better stockbroker. There will be things that you will know and there are things that you may never know or come across. To become a better trader is to focus on the known and to be comfortable with things you do not know yet. Do not look at uncertainties and try to solve something you do not know. On the path of self-learning, keep telling your brain that it is okay not to know the answer at all- your goal is to consume knowledge and learn. Clarity will come the more you immerse yourself in learning and understanding, instead of trying to solve things without knowing.
#3 Imagine the future you want
Manifesting your commitment includes imagining the future you want. What do you see when you imagine a successful stockbroker? An individual with a high positive outlook has high activity in their prefrontal cortex which processes the senses of rewards.
To become a better and successful stockbroker, you need to support your prefrontal cortex through a series of planning. For instance, if you want to join an exclusive stockbroker webinar by a person you truly admire but it’s at 1 am, and you’re sleepy. You need to combat this by planning ahead of time. So, plan ahead on how you can combat this temptation. If you join the webinar at 1 am live, you get to ask the questions you want and have a fulfilling experience with the speaker. You reward yourself with uninterrupted and worry-free sleep once the seminar is over. But if you give in to sleep, you end up listening to a recorded version of the seminar. What choice are you willing to make? Attending the seminar and rewarding yourself later trains your brain to believe and work towards your imagined future and that it will eventually arrive.
#4 Do something every day towards your imagined future
The more you work on your habits and create a routine, the closer you are to achieving your goals. You would naturally take some time off but if you do not take the first 7 days or the first 30 days to focus on working on your goal, you will never create the momentum you need to drive you till you reach your desired target. The first 30 days of a goal is crucial- it not only shows people you are serious, but it also boosts your morale and drives to keep you going and sustain your goals well beyond your target.
#5 Learn to adapt and adjust
Life as a stockbroker is going to be filled with uncertainties- it is a rollercoaster ride, as volatile as the stock market. To become a better stockbroker is to learn how to adapt and adjust. This includes adapting to change, adapting your goals, adapting your routine, and just being flexible. Make your mini-goals slightly difficult if you deem them easy. Or if they become too taxing, then make them easier. The main thing is to remember that if it is too difficult, you might end up quitting. If it’s’ too easy, then you are pushing yourself. Find a middle ground that is decent for advancement each day.
#6 Looking back for feedback, looking forward to rewarding
Feedback and reward are essential parts of becoming a better stockbroker. On your journey to self-improvement, be bold to request feedback from your team, your mentor, and other brokers around, especially from the ones you look up to. Give yourself a little reward once a week or daily for accomplishing your goals. Rewarding yourself can be as simple as putting a gold star on your calendar on the days you accomplished your goals, to something more elaborate like dinner on Saturday night. This reward giving is positive reinforcement. These little things are good enough to tell your brain that you are doing something right.
#7 Emulate traders who are better than you
Follow, listen, subscribe, and meet traders whom you look up to. Read the books they read, read the blogs they write, listen to podcasts, watch their YouTube videos. If you want to be the best at something, look at someone better than you and figure out how to do what they are doing more quickly and efficiently. Evaluate what they do and follow their progress. Just by doing this alone, you will learn something that can make you fill the gaps that you lack, ultimately making you a better trader than you were before.
#8 Using the right tools
A better stockbroker also requires sticking to the daily, small stuff. In your journey to becoming a better stockbroker, this means always working on the fundamentals. It means going back to ‘school-mode’. It involves learning or brushing up on the basics, tasking yourself with reading new books in finance, brushing up your skills, journaling your progress, and also understanding that there will be times when you will fail. It also means using the right tools to help you get ahead of the ever-changing landscape of financial and stock markets. For instance, using Stock Screener helps you observe charts and research stocks in an efficient manner, saving you time.
Final Thoughts
Becoming a better stockbroker is not rocket science. It just needs persistence and diligence on your part to keep the momentum going and to stay connected to your goals, no matter how hard it becomes. Using the right tools and resources along the way makes the journey a little easier. The more you stick to it, the greater the desire and passion you will cultivate to become a better trader for life.
