I talk a lot about goals, particularly around this time of year as we set our sights on the opportunities before us.
I talk a lot about goals because they’re fundamental to developing your mental game into an asset that helps drive your success. Like any other key area of the mental game, flaws or weaknesses cause a variety of problems.
If you’ve struggled to find consistent motivation, deep focus, strong discipline, or you procrastinate, succumb to impulses, and are too results-oriented (all common issues I work on with clients regularly) the answers might come from constructing clearer goals.
Clients never arrive on my virtual doorstep saying they have a problem with their goals. Yet many of them do.
If you’re underperforming, unable to sustain the focus you know you need, constantly breaking rules that you set for yourself, forgetting key elements of your routine or strategy, overrun by the deluge of dopamine-stimulating temptations, or other discipline related problems, better goals could be the answer.
Goals provide direction for your motivation. There’s lots of things we want and need – our goals harness the energy, drive, and passion to go and get it. Motivation fractures when your goals are unclear or conflict. Once fractured, you lack the kind of concentrated energy needed to achieve the goals you have set for yourself in poker, trading, or golf.
While motivation is the boss, focus does the dirty work. It’s in the trenches gathering the specific info you need to achieve your goals. When you lack clarity in your goals, it’s much easier to lack focus and have your mind drift in different directions. Focus doesn’t know exactly what the boss wants. We often refer to this as being distracted, but that term hides the truth – you are focused, just not in the direction that you truly want.
The proverbial muscle of the mind is discipline. Like a muscle, it’s either getting stronger or weaker. You’re either getting stronger in the way you want – to have the strength to hold your focus and motivation in the right place for long periods of time – or you’re getting weaker, more undisciplined, and less capable of getting what you want.
If you believe that you can wait until tomorrow to work towards your goals, that’s procrastination. Unfortunately, all you’re really doing is getting better at delaying what’s necessary and waiting for motivation to come easily. It’s easier to be motivated when you’ve delayed enough to produce a time crunch, amping up the stress and pressure. Performance endeavors like poker, trading, and golf require you to develop hardened skills for success. You can’t cram at the last minute like a student prepping for a test.
Lastly, there is an intimate relationship between process, execution, and results. When you’re overly results-oriented, motivation and focus on results, as if that’s how you get results. Instead, strengthen the emphasis on process and execution as the means to get the results you’re after. Re-training doesn’t happen instantly, your abilities develop over time.
Goals in Action
Here’s a great example, from one of the readers of the blog, who’s struggling in the areas related to this topic and I’ll spitball my thoughts on what’s going on and what to do:
“I fell in love with trading around 2 years ago, wasted 1 year and truly started learning this year. What I realized is that it’s more difficult and takes more time than I expected. It’s also difficult at home with my entire family to focus, the distractions with social media have never been worse than today. I keep finding myself wasting this valuable time, an opportunity many would dream of. Do you have any advice that could help me to stick to my goal of becoming a disciplined trader?”
The sentence that jumped out at me most was the realization that trading was more difficult than this new trader thought it would be. Difficulty is a test of motivation. When something is new and exciting, it’s easy to do what’s necessary to improve and make progress. Once progress gets harder, or if results don’t come as expected, difficulty can become an excuse to allow your focus to drift – which, unfortunately, is when you need that focus the most!
My guess is that the distractions of family were there six months ago, but only became a more obvious problem once trading got harder, and perhaps you lost a bit of hope that success could come quickly.
The first thing to examine is your “Why” – why do you want to become a successful trader? Why do you care so much? Why do you want it so much that you’re willing to put in the time and energy to become sufficiently disciplined?
I assume that your Why initially included making easy money. Now, you see that your why needs to extend beyond just money and include things like, developing better focus and discipline – skills that can aid you not just in trading but elsewhere in life, as I talked about in last month’s blog.
Practically speaking, distractions from having family around while trading from home can be hard. Family matters. You don’t want to shut them out. However, you need to find a practical way to deeply focus when trading. Have a dedicated space to trade. Be sure the people around you value the time you’re dedicating to trading. Learn how to toggle back and forth from trading and family, each time getting back into a “bubble” where trading is once again your only focus. Yes, this is a skill in itself.
The seduction of social media is understandable. It offers quick, easy hits of novelty and entertainment. But why are you choosing to use your time and energy on it vs. what’s needed to improve as a trader? I’d bet that part of it is an escape from the difficulty you’ve encountered in trading.
It all comes back to what you really want and why.
Becoming disciplined is about making better choices about how to allocate your energy and focus. You’re not yet skilled or strong enough yet. That’s ok! The only way to make progress is by starting with an honest appraisal of where you are at right now
I’m not suggesting this capacity has to be developed overnight. It takes time to develop mental toughness and strength. Put in the time and energy over the next 6-9 months, make significant progress, and move onto the next stage of your development.
More Resources
Strong goals should properly reflect what you truly want. Ensure you have a deep, well-crafted reason for your “why” behind the goals that’s not just temporarily inspiring but drives consistent energy – the type needed to navigate ups and downs.
Keep in mind that weaknesses in your goals or conflicting goals will not always be obvious. For instance, you may be intellectually committed to the idea of working on process and execution, but deep down you want results now.
Conflicting motivation like that disrupts your ability to stay the course, consistently perform, and work the process the right way. For more direction and motivation for goal-setting, refer back to this January 2025 blog as a general resource on goal-setting.
This is a great time of year to set out strong, meaningful goals. Then go after them with consistent drive to navigate the ups and downs and reach your end goal for the year.
If you’d like my blog delivered right to your inbox, click here to be added to the list.
