The Fix for “Forgetful” Trading Moments

One day as a teenager, I was frantically running around the house asking where my sunglasses were. Everyone just stared at me until my dad finally pointed out that they were on top of my head—secured by my ponytail. This got me the nickname “absent-minded professor’ 🙂

And it wasn’t a one-time thing. I had plenty of these “how did I miss that?” moments.

As an adult, I’d find myself standing in the shower wondering if I had already shampooed my hair. Or pulling laundry out of the washer, not sure if it had been sitting there from the night before or if I had just loaded it in that morning.

It made me ask: what’s really going on here?

I started reading more about how the brain works, and I came across something that shifted everything for me.

Human beings aren’t actually built to forget.

It’s not like we only get a certain number of gigabytes in our brain and then—oops—we’re out of space. In fact, if you think about life before smartphones, computers, reminders, and notifications, people had to remember so much more. Seasons for farming. Migration paths. Hunting grounds. All without writing things down in the modern fashion.

So what’s the real problem today?

It’s not that we forget—it’s that we never gave something our full attention in the first place.

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Attention Hack: The Power of Commenting Out Loud

As silly as it sounds, I started narrating simple actions to myself.

In the shower: “I just put shampoo in my hair.”
With the laundry: “I’m loading dirty clothes into the washer.”

And it worked. Why? Because the easiest way to pay attention is to comment on what you’re doing.

Think about how often we remember something someone once said to us—a compliment, or maybe even a criticism—from years ago. We remember it because it grabbed our attention.

So how does this tie into trading?

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Paying Attention in Trading

Trading isn’t about shampoo bottles and laundry. It’s about your hard-earned money.

And the way you pay attention matters. Here are three ways I do it:

1. Give yourself voice cues.
   At the end of every trading session, I say out loud, “I’m done trading because…” and I give myself the reason.
   
   • If it was a winning day and I hit my goal, I acknowledge that.
     
   • If I’m stopping because I hit my max loss, I acknowledge that too.
     
   • If I’m stepping away because I feel confused or out of sync with the market, I say it. Out loud.
     Because it reinforces the reality of the decision.
     
2. Keep a physical trading plan in front of you.
   Don’t just have it in your head. Don’t just keep it saved in a file. Print it or write it out and have it on your desk. Your eyes catch what your brain might otherwise skim over.
   
   I’ve dug into this before in my post Do This With Your Trading Plan — And Watch What Happens — because it really does make a difference.
   
3. Use a checklist for prep.
   Preparing for a trading session is critical—checking charts, scanning news, assessing conditions. I use an interactive checklist that takes me maybe 15 minutes to move through. It’s two pages long, but because it’s so specific, I can’t skip a step without there being a giant hole that my brain would want me to fill. That structure makes attention AND completion easier.

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Attention: The Antidote for Self Doubt

I’ve mentored plenty of traders who at first told me they’d wake up in the middle of the night wondering if they had placed their stops correctly.

Nobody wants to live that way.

You want to know that your trading plan is in place and working for you.

And the way to get there isn’t about trying harder to “remember.” It’s about creating practices that force your attention where it matters most. And that’s part of what we’d build into their trading, and their life.

So now I’d love to hear from you:
Have you ever caught yourself doubting whether you followed through on a trade step? What practices help you pay attention in the moment?

Drop your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to know what’s working for you.

~Hima

P.S. Don’t forget to check our Events Calendar for upcoming trainings. It’s the easiest way to stay plugged in and keep building momentum in your trading.