Today's Quote: “It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little. Do what you can.” - Sydney Smith.

Actually cherish mistakes, saying "Great, I have just eliminated a problem from my trading that will never happen again".

This is a follow up to the previous lesson. It is important because it is not enough to just glance over your trades and determine if you made errors. There is a virtual ‘mountain of gold’ in your trading results every day that most people tend to overlook. You can look at a stop out in one of two different ways. You can view it as a loss or a failure and nothing more. Or you can view it as an opportunity to learn about something you may be doing wrong. If it happens several times in the same setting, you can learn to avoid it. Avoid the play, avoid the mistake, and next time maybe avoid a loss.

There is only one way to do this and that is to print out a chart of every play you do. Mark it up with the original stop, targets and how it should have been managed. Then mark it up with how you actually played it. Note the difference. The first time people do this they are amazed. Every time you find an error, mark it on the face of the chart and save it. When you accumulate enough charts, check them all for the most common mistake. Make a vow to do whatever it takes to avoid that mistake. Just one at a time.

Here are a few pointers. While it is acceptable to do this in a computer program like Power Point, it is really better to mark up the chart and draw it by hand. It is also best if you wait to do this until some time has passed after the trade stops out. If it is a core trade, wait a couple days. Review it with a fresh, objective mind as if you were reviewing someone else’s trade. Just think if you had started doing this process fifty trades ago. How many mistakes could you have already eliminated?