As some of ya’ll may know, I am a full time day trader in addition to running Be Better Barbell.
I was thinking the other day about why I loved both weight training and trading stocks and came to a conclusion.
They are basically the same thing.
In both, you have to have a good plan or you will be less than successful.
In trading, you have to have an “edge” or a method of trading that, over time, will make you money.
In weight training, you must have a well thought out, periodized program and a structured diet.
While it is essential to have a well thought out plan, it is not enough. You must take action. You must plan the work and work the plan. No matter how good your training program, diet plan, or trading “edge” is, if you do not follow the plan (missing workouts, trading emotionally, eating like shit all weekend) you will never reach your goals.
This brings me to my next similarity, the need for personal accountability and restraint.
Both activities are dependent on you and you alone. No one else can lift the weights for you, no one else can chart the trades the night before. No one else can eat the correct food to fuel the gains in the gym, no one else can get your mind right before sitting down at the trading desk every day.
It is this factor of extreme ownership and the knowledge that the outcome is entirely on my shoulders that drew me to these activities.
I am in no way trying to steer you anyone away from either of these activities, I personally think they are a great way to not only build your body and finances, but also the mind. Nothing will make you grow up and take accountability for your actions quite like weight training and trading.
That is, unless you are one of those people that will perform mental gymnastics and find any way possible to push the responsibility off yourself to protect your ego (I don’t have good genetics, the market makers are messing up my trades, wah wah I’m a little bitch).
Don’t be that guy.