TIGER WOODS’ SUCCESS IS ROOTED IN SIMPLICITY: STOCK TRADERS SHOULD TAKE NOTICE

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One of my most popular posts of the last two months is THE SECRET TO TIGER WOODS SUCCESS…AND OURS.  I’d like to follow this up with another one about Tiger because I believe the mental game is the most important aspect of stock trading and who better to imitate than Tiger Woods when it comes to the mental game?

CNNMONEY.com has just published a series of articles on influential leaders who were asked to share with readers the wise words that changed their lives forever. 

From Tiger Woods the words are KEEP IT SIMPLE.  Exactly the way I feel about trading.

Here is the text (very short and very simple):

When I was young, maybe 6 or 7 years old, I’d play on the Navy golf course with my pop. My dad would say, “Okay, where do you want to hit the ball?” I’d pick a spot and say I want to hit it there. He’d shrug and say, “Fine, then figure out how to do it.” He didn’t position my arm, adjust my feet, or change my thinking. He just said go ahead and hit the darn ball. My dad’s advice to me was to simplify. He knew that at my age I couldn’t digest all of golf’s intricacies. He kept it simple: If you want to hit the ball to a particular spot, figure out a way to do it. Even today, when I’m struggling with my game, I can still hear him say, “Pick a spot and just hit it.” When I’m making adjustments during a round, I know some of the television commentators theorize that I’m changing this or moving that, but really what I’m doing is listening to Pop.
–Interview by Jessica Shambora

Tiger’s father knew that his advice had limitations so why complicate matters?  Earl Woods, and Tiger’s professional golf coaches who followed, could only teach Tiger how to play. But it was up to Tiger to play.   And play he did!  All because of the simplicity inherent in his overall game. 

As traders, we can only have so much training in the how to before the want to takes over.  The best way to get from the how to to the want to is by focusing on simple rules for entering and exiting a trade. 

For years I looked at trading as a complicated endeavor where only a very few knew the secret ins and outs of the stock market.  I would listen to all these traders on CNBC or read about successful traders and ask myself, “how do they do it?”  “I just have not learned enough” I reasoned and then I would continue in my search to find what worked.  What I was really searching for was a secret to success, a holy grail, a magic bullet, that would propel me to trader stardom. 

When this only caused frustration and losses,  I stepped back and realized that each trader I listened to or read about had their own very simple trading method.  That was the secret!  Find a method that works, keep it simple, and do it over and over again.

To use Tiger’s language, the very best traders have picked a spot ( a method) and just hit it (enter a trade) over and over again. 

When you find a certain method that works, you and you alone must make the decision what to trade, when to trade, and when to get out of the trade.  It is that simple. 

With this method, whether it is mine or another, work on cultivating the voice inside your head that says, “there is your spot now hit it.” 

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