Control Your Controllables
Last month, I set a challenge: create a daily habit of visualising one specific setup in your mind. See it forming, step-by-step, then see it unfold exactly as you’d like it to. This could be a trade you actually took or one you wish you’d taken.
If you can dissect that trade – print it out, mark it up, study it – you start to train your eye and mind to recognise similar opportunities. The more you focus on great trades, the more you attract them. The reverse is also true: if you mainly analyse losing trades, you’ll keep finding them. It’s about tuning your “trading vibration” toward what you want, not what you don’t.
I must admit, I postponed this challenge. I was away for three weeks, spending time with family I only see a couple of times a year. Trading took a back seat, which gave me space to work on other parts of my business that had been quietly calling for attention.
It was during this time I had a conversation with a professional golfer that completely reframed my thinking. We spoke about the gap between being world number one and world number ten. These are athletes with almost identical technical skills, yet the results are vastly different. His answer was simple: “Control the controllables.”
It made me stop and ask myself: What’s truly within my control when it comes to trading? His answer was immediate –Preparation. Your level of preparation, the structure you follow, and the routines you stick to directly shape your results.
That conversation led me to start what I now call my Preparation Improvement Project (PIP). Inspired by James Clear’s Atomic Habits, I’m focusing on small, consistent 1% improvements that can compound into significant gains over time.
While I’ve had a trading plan for years, I’d never had a pre-trade preparation plan – something that checks whether I’m truly ready to take a trade. Here’s what’s on my new checklist:
- Did I get a good night’s sleep?
- Did I visualise my setup today?
- Am I doing my analysis at the same, optimal time each day?
- Am I in the right physical environment to trade?
- Do I feel emotionally good and fully present?
- Am I reviewing this setup at least 24 hours in advance?
- Do I have a written trading plan for this specific setup?
If the answer is no to any of these, it may need to be a hard no to taking a trade. Even something seemingly small – like being tired from a late night – can have an outsized impact on decision-making.
As James Clear says: “You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your habits.” You don’t drift into peak preparation by accident; you build it intentionally.
Before you place your next trade, ask yourself: are you prepared at the highest level you can be? If not, perhaps the best trade you can take that day is no trade at all.
I’ve seen the discipline, structure, and attention to detail that drive large organisations to improve year after year. It’s time I brought that same level of application to my own trading business – because in the end, the only things we can truly control are the ones we prepare for.
Happy Trading,
Gus