5 Critical Lessons from 2022

Read Time: 5 min read, it's the end of the year

Now that 2022 is in the bag, I wanted to write a slightly longer newsletter and distill down some lessons that I learned about trading and life in 2022. 

While trading is my passion, let's face it there is more to life than just trading and making money. 

That's why in some of my previous newsletters I have begun to touch on a little more than just trading and investing. 

Here are 5 lessons that I learned this past year. 

I hope that you will find them useful as you embark on life and trading in 2023. 

Lesson 1 - Action is the best teacher  

What is the answer to the most frequent questions asked about trading? How do I get started trading? What system should I use? Am I a swing trader to a position trader? How do I make money in a down market - all these questions can be answered but only if you take action. 

No from asking others. 

For example, if you ask the question, "What trading system should I use?", just pick one. 

I'm not saying arbitrarily pick one. Do some homework first to vet out the system, but pick one and do a little work on it each day. It will become clear to you if it is right for you. How do you know? You will start making money. 

Maybe just a little at first but in time as you improve your skills, your results will improve too. Focus on the process. 

Most people will spend $100K on tuition without a guarantee of a job after college. What if you set aside $5K to learn a trading system that you can use to beat the market and compound your IRA for the next 30 years? 

In 2021 I was struggling to make money in the market. My system just wasn't working. Some stocks were already topping out and most everything looked exhausted. "Could this be the top of the market.?", I thought. 

"But I don't know how to short. What do I do?" That's when I decided to learn a new system. I did some research, picked up some books, and started learning the best way I knew how, by trial and error. 

Fast forward to 2023 and I've hit a triple-digit gain in my account, passed my series 65 exam, started an advisory firm/fund, and created a successful course on short-selling mastery.  

Action! Action! Action! 

Lesson 2: Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome 

Shiny object syndrome is when you get distracted by other things that take away from what is really important like someone else's returns or style of trading. 

Don't get distracted by what other people are doing with their gains, money, or other vanity metrics. 

We are running different races and some of us started a very long time ago. 

Instead, it is better to ground yourself in WHY. What are you trading and investing? 

What gets you up in the morning to do what you do? What excites you? What are your goals and values? 

I got Shiny Object Syndrome at the beginning, middle, and end of 2022 while trading the United States Investing Competition. If you were following along, then you noticed this in my inconsistent performance month to month. 

Out of the gate in January I was up 82% in one month only to give back half of that the next. 

I hated seeing myself down versus my competitors and got distracted.

Going for bigger and better gains instead of doing what really mattered to me: running a business that helps other people and helps me spend more time with my family. 

Lesson 3: Level up your crew

You will make within 10% of the 5 people that you associate with the most. 

This year make a goal to find 3-5 people who are on a similar trading journey to you. 

Be sure to find people who are passionate, responsible, accountable, and optimistic. 

These people can be well-established friends, people you find on social media, or someone who writes a book or blog. 

Invite them to a slack group, discord group, or SMS group. 

Each person encourages the other; share your, goals, wins, learning, and strategies for avoiding mistakes; hold each other accountable. 

I built a much better community for myself in 2022 and it has made a big difference. 

Surround yourself with people that will help lift you up. 

Lesson 4: Don't Overcomplicate It

Most people when trying something new tend to overcomplicate it. 

In doing this, people feel like they need to work really hard at something to get good results. 

This need not be so. The reality is that consistency will produce far better results than hard work. 

I am stuck in this trap right now working on new products for The Art of Trading Workshop. 

It can be daunting to start managing your own investments and trading your own accounts: trading systems, fundamental analysis, technical analysis, portfolio management, etc. 

You could spend months trying to find the perfect system and the perfect trading routines.

Or you can:

• Pick a trading system and make it your own.  There are many good ones out there. I started with growth stock trading using William O'neil's system, then I distilled this system down into my own in my legacy growth course. You can access this for free when you join our discord community. 

• Create rules that will define how you operate in the market. You can steal mine here.

• Create a morning, evening, and weekend routine. Perform this routine without fail. Make it a habit that if you don't do it, then you don't feel right. One of my favorite books on habit creation is Atomic Habits.  James Clear says that the best way to keep a habit is to never miss two consecutive days doing it. 

Lesson 5: Continuously improve 

Embrace a concept of continuous improvement. No "zero days". 

This means that every day you get slightly better than you were the day before. 

That doesn't mean you should start day trading. You don't need to make money in the market every day. 

It could be as simple as reading an article or newsletter for 5 min, listening to a podcast for 10 min, meditating for just 15 min, watching a youtube video from a reputable source for 20 min, taking a course and doing one lesson per day, and exercise for just 30 min. 

Continuous improvement doesn't have to be just about trading. There are crossover benefits of good physical and mental health.

These are all things that I added to my daily routine in 2022 which made the biggest difference to me. 

These are the 5 lessons that I learned in 2022. 

I hope that they help you as much as they helped me. 

Cheers to a fruitful 2023. It's going to be great!

What happened this week?

My new course, The Art of Trading Workshop - Short Selling Mastery, is off to a great start. It launched last month and we have 10+ students putting in reps.

If you want to learn a skill that will enhance your investment portfolio and help you make money even in a down market, check this out. 

 The Art of Trading Workshop - Short Selling Mastery 

We are having a goal-setting workshop inside The Art of Trading Workshop community this month. Our goal is to help everyone create their own system for their goals, whether it be getting physically fit, making more money, or just spending more time with family.

Join over 80 members in our Discord Community with plenty of free content and premium services like weekly watchlists, trader chat, and my model stock portfolio. 

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