Focus on winning the game

Prepare, be confident & be decisive
*

Follow my trading rules without exception
*

Plan every trade with profit exit, stop exit and risk/reward ranking
*

Trade only when you have time AND you have an edge
*

Formulate and write down a trading/investing plan
*

Exit a position at my stops and not “hope” it will recover tomorrow
*

Trade the market I actually see, not the one I think I will see
*

Focus more on what’s actually happening rather than what I wish would happen
*

Learn to prevent my skepticism and opinion over the economy from keeping me from making good trades
*

Have a plan every day to trade the market and to not let my opinions of the market interfere with my trading
*

Concentrate on rule based trade management and not the outcome of the specific trade
*

Follow price action as opposed to listening to the fundamental “experts”
*

Listen to the market signal rather than market noise
*

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes
*

To pay more attention to technical signals to determine purchase/sell points rather than emotion & personal reasoning
*

Have more confidence in my trade ideas and believe in myself more often
*

Do not have a bias but instead let the charts be the guide
*

Have the discipline and fortitude to stick to my trade plans
*

To improve my organization of stock lists and automation of stock alerts
*

Do not over-leverage
*

Select only the most favorable setups
*

Try not to over analyze every potential trade
*

Lose less when I am wrong
*

Spend less time reading words and more time reading charts
*

Stick with winners and sell the losers
*

Allocate 2-3 hours each day & 5 hours every weekend to finding attractive setups
*

Increase position size and be in the market more
*

Develop and improve two separate automatic trading systems using different trading strategies
*

Be much more selective with trades
*

Write a set of trading rules, but keep it simple. Really simple. Keep a log
*

Be more flexible
*

Control the urge to trade based upon an emotion or a hunch
*

Be more zen about the market, sitting on hands if there are no good opportunities
*

Set up and stick to a consistent personal routine everyday
*

Never buy overbought stocks in an overbought market – pick your entries more carefully
*

Don’t force trades & trade less
*

Without fail, honor your stops
*

Focus on multiple time frames including placing more value on weekly versus daily time frames
*

Try to find more base hits in my trading instead of supposed home runs
*

Stop taking those stupid trades ahead of key economic reports
*

Focus only on low risk – high reward situations
*

Quit waiting for perfect entries and instead go with trend on minor pullbacks
*

Don’t be impulsive
*

To let my winners reach the profit targets I see and not sell them at the first profit that comes my way
*

Look at my percentage gain not the $ amount
*

Maintain a positive attitude when (not if) everything goes wrong
*

Act and trade more consistently
*

Leave the ultra ETFs alone
*

To take more losses. My profits were cut down because of waiting for profits to occur in stocks that I have already purchased
*

Do the opposite of what my analysis tells me
*

Stop exceeding overall risk limits — specifically number of positions open at the same time
*

Always have a cash cushion
*

Develop a plan and implement it; I made money in 2009, but I was lucky
*

Prepare and maintain watch lists to address differing possible market scenarios
*

Devote more “prep time” prior to the opening bell
*

Stay open minded. Be decisive when risk/reward present an opportunity
*

To become more disciplined and less emotional about my trades
*

Define strategy. Execute strategy. Analyze results. Modify strategy if required
*

Be more consistent in position sizing
*

To make more detailed notes about the trades I make and the technical situation surrounding each trade
*

Trade smaller sizes and trust what I see on the charts
*

Stop overtrading
*

I won’t outsmart or out-think the signals my system generates for me
*

Have a little more patience on entries and exits
*

To master the psychological game
*

Set performance goals every week, month, and market while recognizing that market conditions will play a significant role in overall performance
*

Follow tried and true systems and ignore the inner voice which says things it can’t possibly go higher without a correction