Practice Makes Perfect

July 29, 2010

We are very pleased to announce that Sinan is our special guest speaker at November’s workshop in Spokane, Washington. Twenty lucky students will learn advanced trading techniques along with how to carry them out stress free. Here is Sinan’s newest post!

Enjoy,

Cody Jones

Take any person, successful in their field, be it trading, sports, music, medicine or acting. When you watch them go about their craft, it seems effortless and easy to do. When you attempt to do it yourself, it is not as easy as it looks. You are off the mark, clumsy, neither smooth nor elegant. It is easy to then dismiss the whole exercise by saying: “Well they have talent, I don’t”. But is that really so? Take Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, Meryl Streep or Warren Buffet. Did any one of them have a shortcut to success? Or do they owe their success to countless hours of practice?

When you are learning a skill, like trading, you are bound to make mistakes. If you believe that talent or genetics play a role in becoming good at a skill, you are likely to give up, when faced with hardships or mistakes. “I haven’t got it” is an easy way out. If on the other hand you believe that practice is the key to success, you are likely to conclude: “I need more practice”.

You need regular practice to get good at trading (and any other skill). You also need to continue practicing to maintain your skill. Rachmaninoff, one of the finest pianists of his day has said: “If I do not practice for one day, I notice. If I do not practice for two days, my friends notice. If I do not practice for three days, my audiences notice.” No wonder he was the best in his day.

Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers, The Story of Success” covers the journey of many top professionals from Bill Gates to The Beatles, a good resource if you want more information on how practice makes perfect.

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