Tiger Woods - The Worlds Best Trader? - Part 1

Even if you're not a golfer, you can't help hear about Tiger Woods and his amazing accomplishments on the golf course.   When you really start looking into his success you realize it is not due just to the way he plays on the course, it is way more to do what he does inside his mind.

There are a lot of players that have the same skills when it comes down to swinging the club, but no one comes close tp his ability to win.

Over the past 16 years of my trading career I have seen quite a few ttraders who have a great ability to read the market and trade but…    The majority of them self-destruct because of the way they think about trading.

I recently came across Tiger Wood's  recipe for success and believe it is the exact same recipe you need to dominate the financial markets.

What I will do is first write what Tiger said and then I will tie it into trading.

1.  Tiger said:  "Clearly decide what you want."

"I know what I want to accomplish and I know how to get there. The ultimate goal is to be the best. Whether that’s the best ever, who knows? I hope so.

I did envisage being this successful as a player, but not all the hysteria around it off the golf course."

My thoughts…   I can't speak for all traders but I have talked with a few thousand and I can see many get into tradig without any clear goals.  Sure they dream of getting rich, but that is more of a fantasy versus clearly knowing what they want right now. 

You need to write down clearly what you want.  For example, I want to make $150 a day trading the emini S&P's and only spend 2 hours a day doing it.  As you consistantly achieve this goal you can rewrite your goals and aim even higher.

Another important thing is visualizing your success.  Books and books have been written how the power of visualization has achieved incredible feats.  I would't go into this now, but you must see in your minds eye, yourself making the $150 a day.  Visualize and feel in your body the excitement, sense of pride, sense of sccomplishment and exhilaration of doing this.  See in your minds eye your account statement growing.  See yourself calmly, patiently and fearlessly taking trades.  See yourself hitting the sell button and racking up yet another winning trade.

2.  Tiger said:  "Be your own guide. Do not seek the approval of others."

"One of the things that my parents have taught me is never listen to other people's expectations. You should live your own life and live up to your own expectations, and those are the only things I really care about it."

My thoughts…    As you begin your trading career everyone is going to be skeptical.  They will tell you that no one makes money at it and it is the same a s gambling.  To a certain extent they are right.  For traders who don't take the time to really learn this game it is no better than gambling. 

What they don't realize is that there is a small group of traders(about 10%) make a nice living from trading.  Some even make of millions of dollars per year.  If trading was no more than gambling then this group of traders wouldn't be able to make a living from their efforts year after year.

The bottom-line you need to keep focused on your goals and not let the opinion of others talk you out of your dreams.


3.   Tiger said:  "Do what you love. Make your work your play."

"I get to play golf for a living. What more can you ask for - getting paid for doing what you love?"

My thoughts…    I feel the same way about of trading and here's why…

•  I have no commute
•  I have no employees
• I don't have a boss
• I can work when I want
• Trade anywhere with an internet connection
• I can't be fired or retired at a certain age
•  I also have the potential for an unlimited income

3.   Tiger said:   "Be joyful. Have fun."

"Well I think one of the things as far as golf, one of the things my dad kept instilling in me was the joy of the game. He made it fun for me. A lot of the times I see a lot of the kids, they don't enjoy being out there and that's a shame, you're supposed to enjoy the game."

My thoughts…   Listen, trading can be very stressful due to the fact that we need to risk hard-our earned money on a regular basis.  For this reason you must learn how to have fun with your trading.  If you truly don't find joy in it, then find a better way to make money or pick up a hobby.


4.   Tiger said:   "Keep it simple." 

"I don't know if I even have an aura, man. I just try to win."

My thoughts…    Wow I could talk for a year on this one!  Almost every trader including myself at one time or another goes through the "more is better" phase.  They rationalize that the more complicated their strategy and more sophisticated their indicators the more money they will make.

 I know traders who use up to 20 indictors and struggle to make money and on the other hand know old time traders making a lot of money using 1 indicator.

Your goal in trading is to make money and you sholuld strive to trade in a way that is so simple a 10 year old could understand it. 


5.   Tiger said:   "Be detached from the outcome. Learn to let go."

"I'm trying as hard as I can, and sometimes things don't go your way, and that's the way things go."

My thoughts…     Lets face it no one likes to lose money and in trading it is a fact of life.  Because of this it is very hard to not be attached from the outcome.   I can tell you with certainty that if you can't detach from the outcome trading will become a stressful and unrewarding experience.   When you get overly attached to the outcome it will create fear which will in turn create analysis paralysis.  This will then make it very hard for you to "pull the trigger" and jump into a trade.

The way to get over this is to accept that trading is a game of probabilites.  Assuming you have a good trading system, then you just need to take every trade and let the odds work in your favor.  Another trick is just accept that losses are part of the game and that each loss gets you closer to more wins.

That's all for now… Stay tuned for part 2…

Peace & Prosperity!