There are few television shows that I love as much as I love Outlander. I’m a fan to the point that when they brought the first Land Con here to Austin this past weekend, I attended. I even had my sister, who’s a fellow fan, fly in from New York.
Now, a con can be a very overwhelming event, and it reminded me about a few things that can overwhelm us in our trading. Here are some tips for how to navigate that.
Make Decisions in Advance
When it came to this con, since I’d never been to one, I didn’t really have a familiarity with how everything worked. But as the event approached, I checked out the schedule on the website and saw that there was a flow of panels by the different actors throughout the day, with opportunities to purchase add-ons like professional photos, autographs, and more.
My sister and I decided that since this was our first con, we would just enjoy the panels, and we did not purchase any add-ons.
The key word there is decided.
When it comes to trading, there are decisions we’re going to have to make in the moment. A setup appears and we have to decide whether to act on the trade. But there are a ton of other decisions that we can take care of in advance so that we have less hanging over us in the moment, in the heat of that trading moment.
For example, you can decide what times of day you’re going to trade, what markets you’re going to trade, and which indicators you’re going to have on your chart that are helpful.
We can also decide where we’re going to trade, like physically. There are so many factors that, if we make those decisions in advance, it frees us up mentally to trade better in the moment.
Explore at the Right Time
The next thing that was interesting at the con was the food situation. They wanted to charge us $37 for a box lunch. For just a sandwich, bag of chips, and bottle of water!
That sounded insane to me, especially since I live in Austin and have a sense of what restaurants and things were around the convention hotel. But so many of the con attendees who were in a Facebook group with me were blindly following the organizer’s recommendation and ordering these ridiculous boxes.
If they’d just done a tiny bit of exploration to see what was around, they probably could have had better meals for a lot less money.
So that brings to mind the point of exploration in your trading. There’s a time and a place for it.
Exploration can be done when you’re looking into new methods, new markets, new software, etc. There is room for that. The key is that it should not be done at the moment of trading.
You shouldn’t proceed with your trading for the day and then decide you’re going to test out some new strategy in the heat of the moment. That decision from exploration should be made in advance.
So just remember that exploration is a part of a trading business, but it’s better done during those preparation or review times, rather than in the heat of the trading moment.
I thoroughly enjoyed the con. I enjoyed all the panels and getting to see the real people behind the roles. I got souvenirs, made a couple of friends, and definitely may consider attending another one in the future.
Remember, decisions and exploration are going to be an ongoing part of your trading. The key is trying to make decisions in advance so that you have fewer ones to make at the last moment.
🗓️ P.S. — First 40 Trading Club Office Hours Are Today!
Our next First 40 Trading Club Office Hours are today, Wednesday, October 7 at 4:30 PM ET.
Check out ALL of our upcoming events at himareddy.com/events.
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