Happy New Year to everyone! We are looking forward to 2015 to be a fabulous year, and we wish it to be an incredible year for all the traders who read this blog. 
Trading Commitment
Commitment is a huge part of trading. We don’t often think about it, but it is something I write about in my book, Trade Mindfully. When we talk about commitment, we mean being engaged in the activities that support what we value and that make a real difference in our trading. When we are committed to what’s important to our trading, we do whatever it takes to make it a reality. Forgoing a night out at the pub to study our charts is one aspect of commitment. Another is holding onto a trade even though we fear it may turn into a loss. We stay committed to doing the things that are important; we don’t take the easy way out.
At this very moment, history is being made by two highly committed athletes in the climbing world. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson are climbing the absolute hardest climb in the world: the Dawn Wall of Yosemite’s El Capitan. It is so difficult (and dangerous), no one has ever been able to surmount it challenges. These two outstanding climbers are pushing the very outside edge of the human envelop when it comes to climbing. They are doing things that no human being has ever been able to do before. In the world of mountaineering, this is equivalent to running a sub 4-minute mile. It’s very big stuff. (Click on the images for full photos).
Their Commitment
I’ve posted a few links below to some of the commentary as this climb is progressing. Notice that to do this climb, it will take a week or more living in the vertical environment of a sheer mountain wall. There is no hotel there, and no take out. They use what are called port-a-ledges (essentially cots suspended thousands of feet in the air) and eat mostly freeze-dried fair. The challenges—both physical and psychological—are truly monumental. Although several thousand feet off the ground, these athletes push themselves so hard that they fall, regroup, and re-commit to their climbing until they succeed and push themselves up to the next higher level.
Pretty amazing stuff, to be sure. We wish them Godspeed and safe climbing to the top. Go guys and send this climb!
Commitment and Trading
While climbing the Dawn Wall may be an extreme, trading is really no different. We have to be committed to what is important in our trading. If we don’t have some level of commitment, how good can we ever expect to be? Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson are truly outstanding athletes, but they would never be where they are today doing such an historic climb without being committed to their craft. We can be both inspired and learn from these two young climbers.
3 Steps to Your Trading Commitment
Step #1: Take a few moments and reflect on your trading. What do you want to accomplish in this New Year of 2015 with all its wonderful possibilities? Maybe it’s a modest goal such as getting to a level of basic profitability, or maybe it’s cracking the million dollar level. It matters little what the actual goal is. What really matters is that you have a goal that is both meaningful and appropriate to you and you commit to it.
Step #2: Once you have a goal in mind, take a few moments and write down three things you will do this year to reach your goal. Be specific about this and make it realistic—i.e., something that may stretch you, but also something you can definitely do.
Step #3: Once you’ve committed this to paper, commit to doing it in your actions—every day!
Here are a few links to learn more about this incredible, historic climbing event going on right now:
- Rock & Ice (a climber’s magazine) is carrying the story with daily blog posts and cool videos: Commitment: The Dawn Wall Accent
- ElCap Reports: Tom Evans is an artful photographer and skilled recorder of El Capitan climbing. He has several notable posts with ample photos in his December and January reports: Commitment Recorded by T. Evans December and January
Feedback
Let me know what you think about this post by adding your comments! Can you relate to this? What are your commitments for 2015?
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