Many take resolutions, some start following them, but very few complete them. This is what we see year after year. Well, we have to admit the fact that 365 days is quite a long duration when it comes to sticking to a resolution. You need constant motivation, unwavering focus, and a disciplined mind to stick to the resolution until the end of the year. This becoming increasingly difficult in the modern world, so why don’t we try something different for the year 2022?
Choosing Resolution – The First Step
Whatever choice you make, makes you
Choosing a resolution is very important. Stay away from the common resolutions like “I will earn a million dollars in 2022” or “I will not be greedy in 2022.” It should ideally be determined by analyzing where you slipped in the year 2021 and then choosing a resolution that directly or indirectly helps in avoiding such slips.
For instance, if you are a trader who is in the habit of keeping trading journals, then it does not take much effort to understand what factors contributed to your trading losses in the year 2021. You can sort them to different categories like impulsive trading, complacency, etc., and identify which category contributed more to the losses. The next step is to analyze them threadbare and identify the root cause for making such mistakes. For instance, asking questions like “Why did I become complacent?” or “What forced me to do impulsive trading?” will help you to get to the root of the problem. In most cases, it will be related to a specific trading behavior pattern Once you have identified them, handpick the most important among them and choose a realistic trading resolution to overcome that.
This process will help you take pragmatic and impacting resolutions that can redefine the way you trade in 2022.
Executing Resolution – Strategies Execute Resolutions
It is the execution of your resolutions that separates the sheep from the goats.
Your resolution becomes a full-fledged plan when you develop strategies of execution. Therefore, you should develop a concrete (but not rigid) plan on how to execute your resolution. In order to achieve this, you should break down your resolution into quarterly goals. You may do this by comparing this with the previous year’s quarterly figures.
What we generally find among those who take resolutions is that they are all very motivated at the beginning of January but that fades away as early as February! The key to avoiding this lies in the implementation. Do not try to implement the whole of your plan from day #1. Instead, choose to change only one aspect at a time.
For instance, let us suppose that one of your goals is to trade in the wee hours of the morning so as to focus on certain currency pairs that you feel you can trade better. Don’t try to achieve that from January 1st onwards. Instead, break down that into several smaller goals wherein you will first work on making getting up early a habit. It may take a week or two before your body automatically wakes you up at 4 or 5 in the morning. You may use your time constructively by going for a walk or learning about the currency pairs and trying out a trade or two in the morning, but the focus should mainly be on making that waking up a habit. All the rest can wait. So even if you don’t feel like preparing in the early morning hours, it is absolutely okay. Your immediate goal is not that, rather it is only to get up in the morning. This way, bit by bit, you will change your habit of trading regularly in the early morning hours on your favorite currency pairs.
Tracking Resolution – Measurement Helps Management
Progress is made only where progress is measured
It is human to err, to go off the track from the path. Success depends on how early you can identify that and bring yourself back to track.
The best way to ensure you are on track is to measure your progress. There are many ways you can adopt to ensure this. A simple option would be adding an additional point to your trading checklist that helps you to ensure you are applying your resolution to every trade that you execute.
However, a more effective and visual method would be to embrace tracker apps that use state-of-the-art technology to keep you accountable and measure your progress. The graphs and charts they employ help you to reinforce the resolution and its execution in your mind. There are scores of such “accountability partner” apps available that will remind you, prompt you, and persuade you to stay on track. You can customize them to suite your individual needs.
The New Year resolution that you take should be aimed at molding a New You. You are just one resolution away from a different life.
