The number of ways you can be successful in trading and poker is staggering. Walk down the driving range at any PGA Tour stop, or your local course, and you’ll see the same thing in golf – no two swings are the same.
Success comes in a variety of forms. That’s exciting. But it can also be daunting.
How do you know what’s best for you?
As a trader, what markets or assets do you trade? Over what timeframe? Using what indicators, strategies, and setups? When do you adjust and when do you stick with your system?
As a poker player, what game type do you play? Do you play cash or tournaments, or both? Do you specialize or get skilled in multiple poker variants? Do you rely heavily on GTO or go heavy on the exploits?
As a golfer, the permutations go beyond strategy, like whether to hit short putts aggressively or dying them in the hole. What swing is best suited for your body? How should you exercise? Do you get new equipment? When do take a lesson? What’s the best way to practice?
No one is handed the perfect roadmap for success in competitive domains. It takes time and experience to understand how we’ll best perform.
It’s natural – at any level – to question if what you’re doing is right, wonder if you’re missing something, or second guessing if you’ve picked the right coach, have the right strategy, or joined the right trading group.
Although this is a challenge in every competitive arena, these days I hear about it most from traders. Consider these quotes:
“The only problem I have is being unable to choose a system and stick to it. I’ve tried and back tested several methods to trade. However, I find it hard to stick to one long enough to realize its expectancy.”
“As a beginner trader, it is hard to find that asset and strategy that will work for me. Among all the possibilities available and seeing many people profitable with different strategies it’s hard for me to stick to one asset and strategy as I always think that new strategy will make the difference.”
It’s clear these quotes come from less experienced traders, but could just as easily come from a successful trader or poker player questioning the cause of an extended drawdown, or a low handicap golfer whose game has plateaued or is heading in the wrong direction not knowing why.
I’ve tended to stay away from this topic in books or blogs because it’s incredibly broad. The permutations challenge my ability to develop a conceptual framework. But I can’t plateau either, growth must be a constant and tackling difficult ideas is part of that.
Clarity Comes From You
Traversing an uncertain path can often feel like walking in darkness. At night when you’re at home, you can safely find your way around, barring the occasional toy left out on the floor or pet sleeping in an unusual place.
In unfamiliar territory, however, you need light to illuminate the next step to avoid a serious misstep.
When it comes to finding success, understanding yourself can illuminate some of the darkness.
The better you understand yourself, the better aligned you will be with decisions you make about the market, the game, or the course. We bring a unique set of experiences to the table and those experiences influence how you react to the market, evaluate a hand, or swing the club.
Your character shapes the kind of traders, poker player, and golfer you’ll become. Your strengths, weaknesses, values, goals, experience, learning style, and experience elsewhere, influences the type of coaching and resources that are most suitable for you.
We’re all born with a unique fingerprint, but we must create a unique mark that we bring to our competitive endeavors.
In trying to create your fingerprint, reflect on your approach to trading, poker, or golf, to estimate the next steps forward.
The traders I quoted earlier, unable to select a system or a strategy, seem more motivated to quickly make money than they are to become skilled traders capable of building a profitable strategy that carries their fingerprint.
Any misunderstanding about your motives, personality, values, and experiences are liabilities. Clarity converts them into assets.
Overconfidence is a common contaminant in this process. Overestimating your abilities leaves you unaware of what’s truly needed for success. I know this first hand.
Nearing completion of my first book, The Mental Game of Poker, I hired an editor who I had found through my college network. She seemed competent. Had a college degree from a school I knew was reputable, was working in the field as a book editor, and had good recommendations. Easy game.
Before going to press, I casually asked some friends and family to read a few chapters. The feedback was shocking and indicated an impending disaster.
My cousin Alexis, who wasn’t a professional writer but had always excelled in English, told me point blank the editor was either a fraud or scammed me. The book was riddled with errors that were so basic, no reasonably qualified editor could possibly make.
My mistake wasn’t that I hired the wrong editor. I was overconfident and wasn’t even qualified to hire an editor!
I was average in high school English and had trouble reading, because as it turned out I was dyslexic (I only figured this out in recent years). I was the one putting up the money, but lacked the skill to discern a quality editor from a fraud.
While my motives were in the right place, failing to recognize my shortcomings nearly caused a disaster. (Fortunately, my cousin stepped in and helped me produce a book that I could be truly proud of, and still am as it continues to help poker players 15 years later.)
Avoiding Common Traps
Whenever you’re struggling do you go looking for quick fixes? Cycling through YouTube videos, collecting tips from strangers on the course, applying advice from multiple instructors, all in an effort to quickly find answers that work.
This is a trap. While you may get a temporary boost in results or shot making, you don’t build something that will last, or form your fingerprint.
Traders and poker players often quickly abandon strategies when they start losing, even when variance is the cause.
Others need results to feel confident, especially since the early days of learning can be overwhelming. Craving certainty of success drives them to seek results prematurely and alternative methods before investigating what was wrong with that strategy, system, or coach, why it didn’t fit them, and what options might be better.
Some of you don’t like being wrong or hate wasting your time. You don’t want to accept that learning is like navigating a maze – you often take wrong turns and have to get lucky not to.
Some people get lucky to find the right coach, mentor, or system that perfectly aligns with them out of the gate. Scottie Scheffler is incredibly fortunate to have had one coach his entire golfing life who happens to be one of the best instructors of all time. This doesn’t explain why he’s currently the best player in the world, but having that continuity throughout his career certainly doesn’t hurt.
If you’re not so lucky, don’t be afraid to test things out. Don’t assume that something not working is a waste of time.
Great instructors are great, in part, because they help their students understand what does not work for them and what they can ignore.
On the road to finding that person for you, you’re going to have to figure out what doesn’t work for yourself. And that’s a good thing.
Success in any complicated endeavor means you’re going to make a lot of mistakes. The advantage comes not from avoiding them but how quickly you can learn from them. Your mistakes are an asset. It’s all productive. Unless you don’t stick around long enough to learn from them.
I’m not asking you to go slow. Go as fast as your foundation can grow. Build a base of knowledge, skill and experience that allows you to build higher and supports each step.
Eventually, you’ll have something far more valuable than someone else’s formula, you’ll have your own competitive fingerprint.
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