Good morning, traders…
If I asked you to name the single most important aspect of trading, what would you say?
Using an undiscovered strategy? Trading certain catalysts? Finding “that one indicator” that no one else is using.
It’s none of those things.
You don’t win or lose in the markets based on how you read a chart … you win or lose based on how you handle your own psychology.
Who you are as a person = who you are as a trader.
If you’re impatient in life, you’ll force trades.
If you lack discipline in your routines, you’ll break your trading rules.
If you don’t respect the process in your daily habits, you won’t respect your process in your trading.
The markets reveal who you already are.
That means you’ve gotta practice the mindset of a great trader every single day, long before you ever place a trade.
Start here…
Patience
In trading, you need patience to wait for the right setup…
Not jumping into a breakout before the confirmation candle closes, or quick-firing on a pullback before it finds support.
But patience doesn’t start when you open your brokerage account.
You can build patience every day in small, real-life ways.
When you’re stuck in traffic or standing in a long checkout line, resist the urge to fidget.
Don’t pull your phone out to distract yourself…
Bask in the discomfort of waiting. Meditate on it. Slow down when your psyche wants to speed up.
Reframe it: the waiting is a gift.
You get a quiet moment to yourself, a small vacation from the stresses of your day.
Try to take this “glass half full” perspective any time you’re stuck on hold, waiting for a delivery, or bored in a daily life situation.
That way, the next time you need to harness patience in the market, you’ll have already built the foundation beforehand.
Discipline
Discipline in trading means sticking to your rules.
Closing a trade when your stop hits, even when you feel like giving it a little more room. Taking your profits at target, avoiding the hypnotic pull to hold for more.
But discipline doesn’t switch on magically when you sit at your desk.
You have to shape it daily.
I recently completed the 75 Hard Challenge for an entire month by:
- Following a nutrition plan
- Doing two 45-minute workouts each day
- Drinking 1 gallon of water per day
- Reading 10 pages of non-fiction per day
- Taking a daily progress picture
I did this to build discipline in my personal life (that will translate into my trading performance).
But you don’t have to go as “hard” as I did…
A simple real-life way to practice discipline? Religiously follow a morning routine.
Nothing crazy. I’m not talking about some four-hour, candlelit ritual.
Just small, consistent habits: get up at the same time each day, make your bed, a quick walk or stretch…
That quiet daily act of showing up for yourself (no matter how you feel) builds the discipline required to execute your entries and exits.
Additionally, set small personal limits and hold to them.
- Spend only 20 minutes a day on social media.
- Don’t take more than three trades per day.
- Set a $250 daily loss limit.
Sticking to limits carries right into your trading life, where knowing when to stop matters just as much as knowing when to start.
Process
Process is what keeps you grounded when the market feels chaotic.
A good process gives you a roadmap: you know what setups you trade, what your risk is, when you’ll enter, and when you’ll exit.
Without a reliable process, you’re gambling.
But you can strengthen your process by paying attention to how you approach everyday tasks.
Think about how you handle household chores.
Do you have a system, or do you bounce between half-finished tasks?
Try creating a simple, repeatable routine: maybe you always tackle the kitchen first, then the living room, then the laundry…
Another idea: meal prep.
Whether it’s planning your week’s dinners or just packing lunch the night before, the act of preparing and following a system strengthens your “process muscle.”
You might not believe that such basic tasks can improve your trading.
You’d be wrong.
The qualities that make you a strong, resilient person (patience, discipline, commitment to process) are the same qualities that will make you a successful trader.
Teach yourself to think ahead, plan, and execute consistently in your everyday life.
Mastering trading is really about mastering yourself.
Happy trading,
Ben Sturgill
*Past performance does not indicate future results
