Think back a few years to your younger days. I remember not that long ago playing a pickup game of football at a park down the street from my house. We didn't have a set or definite playbook, however before each and every play we would huddle up and discuss what each one of us was going to do.

From here, we would run our routes, each going a different direction to try and get open for a pass from the quarterback. I then noticed that no one else on my team was running the route they actually planned. We spent time and effort designing a quick play to try and complete a pass yet no one else was following the play except for me. I ran a zig-zagging route on this play, and before I knew it I was wide open. I looked over my right shoulder and saw a perfect spiraling pass coming straight for me. I put out my arms, grabbed the ball, caught it, and tucked it into my chest. I then looked up in front of me and knew exactly what my next goal was--finding some way to make it about 50 more yards to score a touchdown.
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There were several other players from the opposing team standing between me and 6 points, and I knew that I had to find some way around them. Exactly how I was going to make it around them I didn't know--when we huddled up we discussed the routes we would run, but we never put much thought into what we would do once one of us caught the ball. I started running and trying to dodge the opposing players, but without a plan I was soon tackled just a few yards away from where I made the catch. It was now 4th down, and we had no choice but to punt the ball away and miss out on a great opportunity to at the very least get a first down and at the very most score a touchdown.

So why exactly did we fail to score? Was it because we weren't as good as the other team? Or maybe because we weren't as fast as them? Or perhaps we didn't know as much about football as them? No. It was none of those reasons. It was actually because they planned not only what they were going to do while we were running our routes, but they also planned exactly what they would do once one of us catches the ball and how they would block us from scoring 6. You see, our team had a great plan for the first part of our goal--catching the ball--but we fell short on the second part of our goal which was moving the ball father down field.

Just yesterday I was able to spend a few hours with one of my local coaching students. We looked at several charts while the market was open and looked at and analyzed several of his recent positions. Much like my football team, he was having a hard time with knowing exactly what to do after entering his positions and more importantly was having a hard time following his actual trading plan. In both football and trading, almost anyone can plan the first part of the play, but it takes a much more experienced player or trader to know how to follow that plan properly and how to manage the play or trade once it is entered.

So we spent time analyzing his charts and positions and talking a bit more about not just how and where to enter trades, but we also discussed trade management and how to actually manage the trade, both financially and emotionally. We discussed placing profit targets and stop losses and following them on each and every trade. We also spent time pointing out what would be a good and bad position on several stocks. This may sound like more basic trading knowledge, but sometimes even the easiest parts of trading become a challenge when you put your hard earned money on the line. The reality of trading is, sometimes there just is no substitute for receiving one-on-one support from a trading coach to not only help you with your known trading issues, but to bring to light any other issues that you may not realize you have, and to give you the confidence and reassurance in your trading plan that you so desperately need.

Now I believe he has the tools necessary to not only plan his trades and spot good entries, but more importantly he knows to follow his trading plan on all of his trades and he knows how to properly manage the trade. Now this isn't just an overnight process--meeting with a trading coach certainly can dramatically change your trading and your performance, however it is a process that still takes time to fully absorb and adapt to. Repetition is key to learning anything, including trading, and the more time you spend with both the markets and with a trading coach the more experience and knowledge you will gain.

The moral of this story is that in both football and trading, not only is an initial plan important, but equally important is the ability to follow that plan and to be prepared to adapt to changes that may arise. Professional football teams practice exactly what they are going to do when they catch the football--but come game time their emotions sometimes get the best of them. Additionally, while football players can practice different routes and techniques to score touchdowns, each and every situation in a football game is just a little bit different than each and every other one. A good football player needs to know how to manage these emotions and adapt to the slight changes that occur in each and every game. This is just like a good trader. A good trader needs to not only spot and enter trades, but they need to manage their emotions so they stay within their trading plan, and they also need to know exactly how to adapt to all of the different changes that can occur in the marketplace. If you find yourself struggling with this, take a big step in the right direction by reaching out for help. Click here to setup a free coaching consultation.