Zen in the Art of Trading
This is the 1st article in a series on Professional Trader Habits and Beliefs by Adam Harris.
Zen in the Art of Trading or how simple, repetitive exercises can produce excellent traders.
“The man, the art, the work--it is all one.”
― Eugen Herrigel
In 1948, Eugen Herrigel published a book describing his personal experiences in becoming an archer in Japan, as an apprentice. (This book inspired another famous publication called ‘Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance’, by Robert Pirsig in 1974.)
In short, Eugen’s experience was not unlike Ralph Macchio’s character in The Karate Kid, where the lessons he needed to learn to master his chosen art, did not always appear to be related and provide immediate results. Eugen discovered through various other ceremonies and exercises, that in order to excel in Archery, he had to find an inner balance and state of mind as well. Most interestingly, one way this was achieved was through the famous Tea Ceremony.
The Tea Ceremony is important in many ways, but especially in that the idea behind it is that small focused, intentional movements produce consistent, high quality results, while clearing the mind of the person doing the task.
Routines Bring Focus
In trading the financial markets, having a well-structured routine, or even series of routines, can assist traders to amongst other things:
- Remain calm and focused during their trading session
- Be clear-headed and see the market charts more objectively
- Be less emotional when managing trades
- Identify higher quality trade setups
Experienced Traders Teach Themselves to Focus
Traders benefit from not only having a routine for scanning for trade setups, but the process in which they evaluate them, trade them, and review them.
In trading, it also helps to have a schedule designed around your lifestyle and/or goals, which are focused on specific steps required to achieve them.
Historically, the best traders in the world work diligently to perfect a single approach to trading, that is to say, they aim to master the same strategy, instead of changing strategies repeatedly.
A strategy does not have to be complex to be successful. In trading, as in life, it is often the simple things done well that yield the best results.
Things just seem to work better when done regularly the same way. Professional trades, much like Commercial airline pilots, commit to their ‘pre-flight safety checks’ for two main reasons; one, it brings their mind in to focus at the task at hand, and two, increases the safety and success of the next move forward.
Excellence is a Personal Choice
Much like the archer, our goal to hit the bullseye consistently comes from understanding each component of our trade setup checklist and learning to identify and execute each one of these items as best we can. With diligence (if we apply ourselves), we will improve and feel less effort and difficulty in not only seeing the charts clearly, but feeling the momentum of the market.
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Regards,
Adam Harris
The TWP Team
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