On... Performance Sport

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Steven Goldstein says that trading is something similar to performance sport. Some people get this and some people don't.


I sit in the camp that gets it. When I saw his tweet (Figure below), I just thought what a coincidence, I've been having s similar thought myself. I'm not a sports person myself but I do know a little about what a sports person go through. I figured that most athlete would spend 20% (roughly speaking) of their time acquiring the skill and the remaining 80% executing on it and training to perfect the existing skill.


Take a swimmer for example. They probably spend the first few years of their life learning the skills that is required to become an athlete in their field. After you have learned the different strokes, you are not going to learn anything particularly new. The swimmer will then continue to train every day to perfect the existing skills. They continue to train evey day to execute on what they already know.


Why do I think this is similar to trading? Because in trading and investing, I don't really learn anything new anymore that I would consider very useful. After the first few years of acquiring the basic knowledge, I basically already know the process and strategy that I have to employ. Does this mean that I can just sit back and relax? Hell no! The athlete doesn't just sit back and relax - they still hit the gym, the pool, the track, etc.


Most days, I spend time reading or watching podcasts. 80% of the material are probably just recycled material or things that I already know. But just as the athlete build up their physical fitness in the gym, court, pool, etc... I'm building up my mental fitness. I firmly believe in neuro-plasticity and I somehow need to keep feeding on trading material to internalize them. It is easy to say take your losses for example, but if I don't ingrain them, I will still feel the pain of loss taking.


Trading to me is oddly closer to performance activities rather than science or math. Who would of thought?




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