Saturday, March 11, 2017

Two Big Ideas That Shape Our Development As Traders

Suppose we start our thinking about performance with two big ideas:

1)  Everything we do is training - We are always reinforcing something.  When we avoid effort, we reinforce avoidance.  When we work out, we reinforce strength and conditioning.  When we talk to ourselves negatively, we reinforce a negative self-image and negative behaviors.  When we establish and follow rules, we reinforce self-discipline.  We're always training; it's just that some people train more consciously, intentionally, and purposefully than others.

2)  We use it or we lose it - What we don't actively exercise, atrophies.  If we don't exercise our bodies, we lose muscle tone and muscle mass.  If we don't exercise our minds, we lose creativity and we decline in our cognitive functioning.  If we don't work on self-improvement and the development of our relationships, we remain stagnant--or worse.  What we don't do during our days and weeks is what we will find it more difficult to do in the future.

So now, with those two premises, we can take a hard look at our lifestyle and ask ourselves what we are training and gaining and what we aren't using and losing.  

Today's lifestyle shapes our tomorrow.

There are many synergies that can be found in our lifestyle.  Physical exercise promotes our health and also our cognitive functioningIntegrating mental and physical exercise, as in engaging in active dance routines, can improve mental and physical functioning better than simply conducting workout routines or mental exercises.  As Alvaro Fernandez notes on the SharpBrains site, our daily activities, including how we eat and what we do for recreation, impact our brain development.  That is important because our number one tool as traders is our brains, our cognitive functioning.  We are either sharpening that tool or allowing it to dull.

So take a look at what you do during the day, during the week.  Is your lifestyle the lifestyle of a peak performer?  We're always training for something: how we live today is what we'll be like tomorrow.

Further Reading:  Human Performance as a Lifestyle
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