Thursday, December 27, 2012

Repetition - Practice Makes Perfect!

Regardless of the path we choose in life, it takes time, dedication and hard work to attain our goals and aspirations. Success in trading is no different. Hard work, discipline and a solid foundation built on proper education and training is a requirement. The question is, how do we achieve discipline and a proper understanding of chart patterns? Through repetition, that's how!

In order to reach a high level of proficiency in anything we do, we must constantly reinforce positive behavior, and eliminate unconstructive actions. How do we accomplish this? Through repetition. As any highly competitive athlete knows, repetition is the only path to success. There's a reason pro golfers spend hours and hours on the driving range hitting balls. They want their swing to become so automatic, so robotic, that regardless of how pressure packed the situation is, their muscle memory will kick in and "do the right thing." This is only possible after tremendous practice and continual duplication of correct technique. Proper trading is much the same.

First we must learn the basic actions that will lead to success, and then we must continue to repeat those techniques over and over until they become second nature. As one of our chat room moderators Tom Willard likes to say, "unconscious competence is what we strive for." Essentially this is the ability to know what to do in any situation and then act on it without hesitation. In order to achieve this level of aptitude, we need proper coaching. In trading this means getting a high-quality education and then practicing what is taught in the classroom.

One of the best ways to reinforce these positive habits is to (re)take seminars and courses. Pristine offers seminars for every level of trader and over the course of an intensive two day seminar such as Trading the Pristine Method (TPM) or Advanced Technical Strategies (ATS), a lot of great information is presented to the students. However, due to their comprehensive nature, and the fact that we are not robots, it is nearly impossible to fully grasp everything that is taught in the course. This is not a reflection of intelligence, but rather more to do with the tremendous amount of information provided in such a short period of time. So in order to fully capture the subject matter, as students we need to constantly review the material, and even retake the courses. By retaking a seminar we are repeating the learning process and further reinforcing patterns of good behavior which are conducive to success. We must be smart enough to know that there are things we don't understand and still need help with. It's the same concept as a professional athlete receiving coaching on a regular basis.

After taking a Pristine seminar the Pristine Method Trading Room "PMTR" (our live on-line trading room) is the next logical step to reinforcing these concepts and good behavior. Not only do we provide live examples of Pristine patterns taught in the seminars, but there are also daily and weekly lessons on various trading topics. Essentially the PMTR and Graduate Room bridges the gap between what is taught in the TPM and ATS courses and shows those concepts at work in real-time market conditions. The experience is truly invaluable and will greatly enhance and advance your classroom learning experience with live examples of trades. It also makes for a wonderful environment to learn from other professional traders, as well as Pristine's own coaches and moderators. It's the difference between the practice court and the real game!

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