It goes without saying that it is extremely difficult as a trader or investor to consistently extract money from the market. Most do not succeed in the long run. For those who do, it most likely took time and perseverance. Just as a trading plan is essential for success, setting aside some time to study is imperative too.

Treat This as a Business…It is!

I love to dine out at restaurants, although that has been hard to do because of the pandemic. But I like to use the analogy of someone investing in or starting up a restaurant and someone who is trying to be a profitable trader. A person just does not open a restaurant without a written plan. That would be silly and detrimental to his or her possible success. So why do so many traders try to do this when they trade? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Plan Your Study Sessions

Just like a meeting, plan times to study and review options. This needs to be done when the market is closed and you can fully concentrate on your studying. If you don’t do this, people tend to “blow it off” as they sometimes do with their gym workouts. Holding yourself accountable as a person goes a long way to your potential success as an options trader. Make it reasonable too. For example, if you tell yourself you will study from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm this Saturday (5 hours), you may get tired and end sooner than you would like. But if you set reasonable time slots, you might go a little bit over your allotted study time.

Finally

If you take options trading seriously, you will need to study no matter if you are a beginner or more advanced. Put that study time on your calendar as you would any meeting or appointment, and hold yourself accountable for that time period especially when it is a reasonable period of time.

John Kmiecik, Market Taker Mentoring