Elite Performance – Olympians and Traders.

As the world sporting world descends on London, it is interesting to look into sporting performance and compare and contrast this with similarities in trading. Having watched some fantastic spectacles and feats so far in the pool, at the archery, in the equestrian, the gymnastics and the weightlifting, it is amazing how much comes down to mindset on the day. Our own greatest Olympian Sir Steve Redgrave says ‘The bodies are roughly equal, the training is similar, the techniques can be copied, what separates the achievers is nothing as tangible as split times or kilograms. It is the iron in the mind, not the supplements, that wins medals.’ I’d like to compare this to a comment from Jack Schwager in one of the early Market Wizards books - ‘What sets successful traders apart...Most people think that winning in the markets has something to do with finding the secret formula. The truth is that any common denominator among the traders I interviewed had more to do with attitude than approach’. Iron in the mind and attitude, it’s the same thing. – It is about mindset, the ‘appropriate mindset’, this is what separates the winners from the rest of the field.

Of course there are other aspects beyond mindset, mindset matters on the day and in the moment, but it also about the hard work, the training, pushing oneself to the limit, where every muscle and sinew is aching day after day. Trading is also about putting the hours and effort in, taking risks, feeling the pain on a mental and emotional basis when markets go against you, when your mind cannot  make out what is happening, when your ego is taking a pummelling; regretting not taking a bigger position

or cutting out a potential winner, seeing you hard earned potential winnings being left on the table. The pain is not physical, but it is every bit as real and possibly more tortuous.






Ultimate Performance is the result to two main factors: Potential and Interference. The father of modern day coaching Tim Gallwey, whose work has influenced coaches across the world, came up with a simple formula for performance.

Potential is what everyone has inside them, it is the education, learning, development, support and time put in that enables one to continually develop their capabilities. This can increase, at least until either physical or mental limitations constrain further growth.

Interference is what detracts from potential to reduce performance. This can be down to any number of reasons, perhaps environmental or external factors, physical or mental hurdles or limitations, poor execution of process, inadequate self-management. Many of these can be deatlt with in some way; however, the greatest threat in most cases is from attitude and mindset. Perhaps it could be something as simple as seeing yourself failing and recalling the look of an angry parent, a doubting physical education teacher or a school bully from your younger years who always told you that you did not have what it takes. – This creates that painful memory which instils that moment of hesitation or self-doubt just when you least need it. – Who hasn’t at some time during their trading had that pang of self-doubt, or lacked the self-belief or confidence just at a crucial moment, and then looked back with regret and heartache, in some cases leading to a whole cycle of self-doubt and poor decisions, execution and position sizing.

I will elaborate on this theme of performance in tomorrow’s post, with a look at the role of coaching in elite performance, and how this works in trading.