"Is there a particularly good way to set your trading and investment goals?" For trading and indeed for all areas of your life, there are two crucial elements in goal setting and attainment. First the perceived difficulty of the goal and secondly how specifically you state the goal. These two elements will play a large part in determining whether you will achieve the goal.
The more perceived difficulty in the goal and more specific the goal is, the more likely you will raise your level of performance to achieve your goal. This is because with these two elements of challenge and focus, people are more likely to try harder, achieving a higher performance which produces better overall results.
So with a trading/investing goal example to earn $50,000 for the year, a more difficult and specific goal may be $51,600. If your brain perceives $51,600 yearly earning as a more specific goal than $50,000 yearly earning then you are more likely to raise your performance to achieve your goal of $51,600.
Setting difficult and specific goals provide a better outcome than setting goals you know are easily attainable. So, if you believe that you can comfortably achieve $51,600 through your trading, then raise the level to something more challenging like $72,400.
Don't be unrealistic though, as you are more likely to perform if you believe you can achieve your goal. Base your goal on your knowledge, training, skills and past experiences. If you know it can happen, that you can make it happen, then your performance can increase.
So that is the setting of your trading goal. What about along the way...on the journey to achieving the goal? You will be most committed to achieving a goal when you believe that achieving the goal is important. Also when you can see that progress is being made towards achieving the goal, you get the best results.
A way of measuring your trading progress, can be done as simply as keeping an ongoing running tally of your trading outcomes for the year. For example, if your goal is to earn $72,400 from trading for the year and by half way through the year your trading tally is $38,100 you can measure how well you are placed to achieving your goal - you have more than half of your goal achieved.
Often when starting something new, we don't bother to set goals. When starting in trading and investing, often it is good just to see a result. But imagine how much more meaningful this would be if the result reflected a set goal which was difficult, specific and important. We would be able to measure our progress which would add to our performance in achieving the goal at hand. Very satisfying and very positive.
So, why not think through your trading or investing goals. Set yourself an attainable, but difficult specific challenge and measure your progress. You will be amazed how you feel about your results.
Kevin Hogan talks about "the least acceptable result" in his book "The Psychology of Persuasion". Your least acceptable result is often the true goal that people achieve from any activity - what is your trading/investing least acceptable result. Make your least acceptable result your goal and watch your trading/investing performance results. - 23309
The more perceived difficulty in the goal and more specific the goal is, the more likely you will raise your level of performance to achieve your goal. This is because with these two elements of challenge and focus, people are more likely to try harder, achieving a higher performance which produces better overall results.
So with a trading/investing goal example to earn $50,000 for the year, a more difficult and specific goal may be $51,600. If your brain perceives $51,600 yearly earning as a more specific goal than $50,000 yearly earning then you are more likely to raise your performance to achieve your goal of $51,600.
Setting difficult and specific goals provide a better outcome than setting goals you know are easily attainable. So, if you believe that you can comfortably achieve $51,600 through your trading, then raise the level to something more challenging like $72,400.
Don't be unrealistic though, as you are more likely to perform if you believe you can achieve your goal. Base your goal on your knowledge, training, skills and past experiences. If you know it can happen, that you can make it happen, then your performance can increase.
So that is the setting of your trading goal. What about along the way...on the journey to achieving the goal? You will be most committed to achieving a goal when you believe that achieving the goal is important. Also when you can see that progress is being made towards achieving the goal, you get the best results.
A way of measuring your trading progress, can be done as simply as keeping an ongoing running tally of your trading outcomes for the year. For example, if your goal is to earn $72,400 from trading for the year and by half way through the year your trading tally is $38,100 you can measure how well you are placed to achieving your goal - you have more than half of your goal achieved.
Often when starting something new, we don't bother to set goals. When starting in trading and investing, often it is good just to see a result. But imagine how much more meaningful this would be if the result reflected a set goal which was difficult, specific and important. We would be able to measure our progress which would add to our performance in achieving the goal at hand. Very satisfying and very positive.
So, why not think through your trading or investing goals. Set yourself an attainable, but difficult specific challenge and measure your progress. You will be amazed how you feel about your results.
Kevin Hogan talks about "the least acceptable result" in his book "The Psychology of Persuasion". Your least acceptable result is often the true goal that people achieve from any activity - what is your trading/investing least acceptable result. Make your least acceptable result your goal and watch your trading/investing performance results. - 23309
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