Coaching yourself starts with naming what you feel.
I’ve spent years coaching leaders. Different people, different problems, but the first thing I look for is always the same: a clear understanding of the problem. Not the version someone tells me in the first five minutes. The real one.
Until the problem is clear, nothing else works. You can hand someone a great plan, and if they’re solving the wrong problem, they’ll execute it perfectly and still come up short.
Trading taught me that rule applies to me too. And at the screen, there’s nobody else in the room to do it for me.
When I coach someone, I’m on the outside looking in. I can see what they can’t. At the screen, I’m both. I’m the coach and the player, at the same time, in real time, with my own money on the line.
That’s the hard part. The player always has a story. The setup was good. The market was rigged. I just got unlucky. The coach’s job is to cut through the story and see what’s actually happening.
And what’s actually happening, more often than not, isn’t on the chart. It’s in me.
So the first problem a trader has to understand is his own emotional state.
Excitement. Anticipation. Nerves. Each one pulls you somewhere. Excitement wants you in now. Anticipation has you leaning in before the setup is finished. Nerves make you close a good trade early, or skip it entirely.
None of those feelings is wrong. They’re human. The problem is acting on them without knowing they’re there. You can’t coach yourself through something you haven’t named. If you can’t say “I’m excited right now,” then excitement is making your decisions, and you’re just along for the ride.
Here’s where I make sure I am when I trade: flat, but highly aware.
Flat means neutral. Not up, not down. Not hungry for a trade, and not afraid of one.
Highly aware means I’m paying attention to everything, including myself. I’m watching the market, and I’m watching the guy watching the market.
That’s the state I want before I ever put on a position. It isn’t something I hope for. It’s something I build.
I build it the same way I’d tell anyone to get ready for something that matters: preparation.
I do my market prep. I know where my levels are, what I’m watching, and what has to happen before I’ll act. And I have a plan. Not a vague idea. A plan.
Prep and a plan take the emotion out of the moment. When I’ve already decided what I’ll do, there’s nothing to get worked up about when price moves. I’m not discovering the trade in real time. I’m waiting to see whether the market does what I already planned for. Calm isn’t a personality trait. It’s what preparation feels like.
Even with prep, it happens. I feel myself drift. Something gets my pulse up, or I start wanting a trade more than I should.
When that happens, I do one of two things. If I’m in a trade, I get flat. I close it. If I’m not in a trade, I sit on my hands.
Every trader knows “flat” means no position. I use it both ways. When I’m not flat in my head, I get flat on the screen. If my state has changed, my position changes with it. And if I’m not in one, I don’t start one.
It sounds simple. It is simple. It just isn’t easy, because the moment you most want to act is usually the moment you most need to stop.
That’s the biggest thing coaching taught me about trading. You can’t fix what you can’t see, and the hardest thing to see clearly is yourself.
So before you look at the chart, look at yourself. Name what you’re feeling. Do your prep. Have a plan. And when you notice you’ve drifted, don’t argue with it. Get flat, or sit on your hands.
The market will be there when you’re ready. Your job is to make sure you are.
Just like a good cigar, stay patient, let it burn.
— Chris
