Great Performance Requires Developing a 'Love of Doing the Boring Stuff'

In an article about the late, great Kobe Bryant, basketball player Dwyane Wade recounted a story from the lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics when the US basketball team gathered in Las Vegas for a mini-camp to prepare for the games. Wade described how their typical day began: 'While everybody else was just waking up, we were still stretching and yawning, whilst he (Kobe Bryant) was already three hours into a full workout for the day.'

Bryant is an example of an exception, he had a love for doing the boring stuff. It is more often the case that people in high performance roles defer putting off the 'boring stuff' that could make them better, stronger, more effective, or more productive simply because, well, they can't be bothered!

For the purpose of this article, my focus lies in a specific realm where many of my coaching clients come from: trading. This is perhaps especially poignant, since individuals engaged in trading are typically highly driven to succeed. But I do understand it! I was the same back in my early trading days. Being human, like all humans, I preferred maximising outcomes with minimal expenditure and effort. This behaviour is very human. To some extent, almost everyone procrastinates on essential practices and actions that form the bedrock of high, or even elite, performance.

Exceptional Performers do the 'Work Unseen'.

However, amidst the realm of procrastinators, remarkable exceptions emerge. These exceptions truly embody the phrase 'exceptional performers.' Their names resonate worldwide in the domain of high performance and business: Jordan, Ali, Messi, Cruise, Brady, Musk, and of course Bryant.

While they're often widely recognised in various arenas, in the trading world they frequently operate more discreetly, despite their extraordinary prowess, with a few notable exceptions, such as Buffett and Soros.

One of the stories I tell in my upcoming book ‘Mastering the Mental Game of Trading ’, was shared by the trader Tom Dante in his excellent interview with Aaron Fifield on the podcast series 'Chat With Traders'.

Tom recalled an incident in which he had to revisit his workplace at the trading firm he worked for late one evening. The office was dark, but he noticed a distant light with someone working. Curious, he approached to discover who was working late into the evening.

When he got closer he realised was it was the firm's top trader. This particularly day had been a huge day in the market. And this individual had made a multiple 6 figure trading profit that day.

Tom was surprised that this trader was still there, he thought if it had been him who had the huge day, he'd have been out celebrating, or at least, recuperating. He went over to the trader to ask him what he was doing. The trader replied that he was reviewing all his trades for that day. Analysing what went well, and what he could have done better, and what he needed to think about for tomorrow.

This is an example of what so many greats do. They go that extra mile, they put in the hard yards, they do the work unseen.

I have trading clients who exhibit the same dedication. One of them happened to be featured in Jack Schwager 's outstanding book 'Unknown Market Wizards'. This trader consistently went the extra mile and beyond in various ways, including doing exactly the same as the actions shown by the trader highlighted in the Tom Dante story mentioned above.

This trader didn't mention these practices until well into our coaching programme because they didn't seem particularly special to him. He simply did what he believed was necessary for success. This was the 'work unseen'. - To most other people, these tasks might seem mundane, they may acknowledge them as useful and helpful, but they would rather to postpone to another time.

Doing the Unsexy but Important Stuff

In trading, numerous practices fall into the realm of being uninteresting, dull, or unappealing. Reviewing your performance and actions is one such practice. I am not referring to a quick analysis of the day but rather delving deeply into self-examination—scrutinising yourself, your behaviour, your thoughts, and your actions and reactions. This is a fundamental aspect of 'being a student of yourself,' not solely 'a student of the markets.' - Being a 'Student of Your Self' is something many of the very best performers practice.

In Mastering the Mental Game of Trading there is a framework I refer to known as the Covey or Eisenhower Matrix. An image of which can be seen below.

In this matrix, there are four squares. The square at the top left is designated for all your activities that are 'urgent and important.' This is where people allocate most of their time and energy, although quite often they end up engaging in numerous tasks that belong to the bottom-left square—urgent but not important. Consider the time spent inanely 'watching every tick' or dedicated to "meaningless hours on social media."

It is however the top right square which, where time spent and devoted to, is what leads to great performance. This is the square where the stuff that is important but not urgent, nor exciting nor sexy, is done. This is where growth and elite performance capabilities spring from. This is where Kobe Bryant resided much of the time!

The Unsexy but Important Stuff of Trading

Journaling, reviewing, self analysis, planning, developing, working with mentors and coaches. Also doing the equivalent of training, such as going on courses, working with a performance coach to become better, learning new techniques or skills which may benefit you. Also attending events where you can learn from others. Spending time reading about and developing areas you are weak on. Reading books, whilst also taking notes on what you are reading where it matters. The same goes for listening to podcasts.

There are also activities which are more self-state focused; doing things that remove you from the noise and help you refresh and recover to become stronger mentally. Physical activities such as going to the gym, running, swimming, yoga, meditation, mindfulness, or just recuperating breaks.

The covey matrix is a matrix for life, if you don’t do the stuff on top right, or you keep putting the stuff in that space off, you are ‘selling yourself short’. You may not see it on a daily basis, but in the future if you aren’t achieving what you dream of, you'll one day look back and say, I should have done more of that stuff, I just could not be bothered at the time.

The Covey Matrix is just is one of the frameworks which gets discussed in ‘Mastering the Mental Game of Trading’, published by Harriman House and due for release on Jan 16th. The book can be viewed pre-ordered at this link: https://linktr.ee/MTMGOT

Mark Randall and myself regularly talk about and explore themes such as this on the AlphaMind Podcast which can be heard and followed here: https://linktr.ee/alphamind101

Warm regards,

Steve and Mark and The AlphaMind Team

Pre-order “Mastering The Mental Game of Trading”

"Mastering the Mental Game of Trading " is a groundbreaking new book by AlphaMind’s Steven Goldstein which explores some of the human performance acpects that drive success in the world of trading.?

The book, set to be published on the 16th of January 2024, draws upon Steven's extensive experience as a performance coach and former trader. In the book, he presents powerful models and ideas that challenge readers to reflect on their mental, emotional, and behavioural challenges, as well as their trading process and practice when engaged in their daily encounters with the markets.

Some of the preliminary reviews of ‘Mastering The Mental Game of Trading’ from prominent industry figures:

“This wonderfully written book demands thoughtful introspection. It is a far cry from the cookie cutter coaching books and instead encompasses a life philosophy for traders. I could read it once a month - it is that enjoyable!" - Linda Raschke: Trader featured in Jack Schwager’s New Market Wizards.

“Mastering The Mental Game Of Trading is one of the most important trading books in years. Steven’s decades of experience, his empathy, and his expert coaching and trading knowledge make this book an instant must read. I strongly recommend it for traders of every experience level.” - Brent Donnelly, author of "Alpha Trader” and "The Art of Currency Trading".

“In Mastering the Mental Game of Trading, Steven Goldstein guides the reader through the process of integrating the inner and outer games of trading. The lessons of the book are brought to life through actual trading anecdotes drawn from both Steven’s own experience and those of the traders he has coached.” - Jack Schwager - Author of the Market Wizards book series

“Steven’s easy to read book deftly addresses the most important subject in creating sustained success – what goes on in your head.“ - Denise Shull - Leading performance coach, author of "Market Mind Games

“Filled with real-world examples of mental game mastery and specific strategies for achieving that mastery, this book is a valuable resource for beginning traders and experienced money managers alike.” - Brett Steenbarger, Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences SUNY Upstate Medical University author of The Psychology of Trading.

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Checkout our 3 previous AlphaMind Newsletter articles ??

The Importance of Non-Attachment in Trading, with Cargill (OT) Trading Lead Adam Birkett Birkett. Read here.

Susquehanna's Todd Simkin Simkin: Great Traders Are Made, Not Born. Read here .

Unlocking Inner Success: Exploring the Power of Presence in Trading and Life. Read here .

Checkout our 3 previous AlphaMind Podcasts???

#119 JTrader: What It Takes to Succeed in Trading here .

#118 Adam Birkett: Global Trading Lead Cargill OT - The Power of Non-Attachment. here

#117: Susquehanna's Todd Simkin: Great Traders Are Made, Not Born. here .

Checkout our top 3 AlphaMind Podcasts by downloads???

#96: Tom Hougaard : Best Loser Wins - With close to 50,000 downloads and views this episode went viral through the markets. Listen here .

#90 Linda Bradford Raschke Raschke: Trading and ‘The Power of The Mind’ - Another hugely popular episode sharing the wit and wisdom of legendary Market Wizard Linda. Listen here .

#77 Brent Donnelly Donnelly - Alpha Trader. Brent's exceptional writing has made him essential reading for serious traders, and his insights are widely shared in major trading rooms around the world. Listen here .

AlphaMind: Optimising “Trader Performance”

AlphaMind is a dynamic Performance Development business dedicated to nurturing growth and fostering peak performance among individuals, teams, and businesses within the Trading and Investing sphere. Our primary focus is on empowering those at the risk-taking forefront of front office businesses.

Established in 2019 by Mark Randall and Steven Goldstein , two seasoned Executive and Performance Coaches, with collectively over six decades in trading and broking roles at leading market players. As coaches, they have worked extensively with risk-takers, leaders, managers, sales and business development people, quants, and analysts at the individual level and as part of teams and trading businesses.

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