Making Trading Goals and Achieving Them - How to Succeed

We all know about making goals, right? You know that making trading goals is crucial to your trading success.

We all make goals very early in the New Year. They are called New Year's resolutions.

..and of course, you made a bundle of new goals at that time and throughout the year, that you achieved easily - right?

NO? Why Not?

Well, if you are anything like the majority of people, you failed miserably with most of the goals on your list made at any time of the year.

WHY? Why do most people fail and why did you fail?

Whether your goals are in relation your trading or even in regards to your health and fitness (health and fitness are the number one universal goal set at New Years with the highest failure rate) there are a number of reasons why you don't succeed and there are steps to take to ensure you do succeed.

The crucial elements to successful goal setting to become successful in trading are:

* Make the goals realistic.
It's always good to stretch yourself and your intentions when it comes to goal setting. However, if it is too much of a stretch, your unconscious mind will not believe that this is possible and you are unlikely to reach them. For example, if you have had only small or no success in your trading so far, it can be way too much to ask your unconscious mind to accept that you will make $1,000,000 in your first year trading. It may be more realistic to set your goal to make $100,000 or even $10,000. What feels right for you? What you are after is alignment between your conscious and unconscious mind so they work together to achieve your goals.

* Have a date set against your goal.
If you have a date set as to when you will achieve each goal, then your unconscious mind will put things in action in order to achieve the goal within the time frame. If you do not have a time set then the goal is just 'out there'. Even if you say ' this year', when is 'this year'? If you say December 1st 2012, then there is no room for any confusion.

* Make the goal statement concise.
When writing out your goals in the format described, always make sure the goal is simple and easy to understand. The most simplistic and short sentences will be the easiest to understand and execute.

* Set your goal in the present tense.
In any goal setting, you will get such tremendous results if your unconscious minds thinks that it has already achieved the goal, so setting the goal in the present tense is so powerful. e.g. It is now 1 December 2010 and I am.......

* End step - evidence of achievement
Another way to have your unconscious work in alignment with your conscious mind, is to give it some indication of how things will look when you have achieved the goal. This usually comes in the form of doing or saying something in particular that will show that the goal has been achieved. The goal statement now has another component to it to show proof of the desired outcome, such as:...and I am sitting in front of my computer looking at my trading account balance and it shows a $100,000 balance!

* Always be thinking ecological
When setting your goal, always ensure that whatever has to happen to achieve your goal is ecological. Basically, this means that it is safe to others and safe to yourself.

The overall desired goal statement may look something like this:

It is now 1 December 2012, and I sitting in front of my computer in my office looking at my trading account and it shows a balance of $100,000.

How exciting is that!

So, in setting your goals for trading or in fact any area of your life, always remember these key steps to having your unconscious mind work to transform your goals into reality and you will have the trading success and lifestyle that you have always wanted.

For more tip and techniques to master your mindset at all levels to ensure your trading success, follow the links.

Karen Oates is a seasoned options trader and mindset coach who excels at helping traders understand themselves and the stock market by using a 'keep it simple' trading plan and the mind tools of success through mastery of mindset, focus, behaviors, beliefs and strategies.

Posted in: Forex and Trading