(For about a decade I coached varsity girls basketball and cross country.)

 

Sadly, I was forced to leave those jobs due to my financial situation — I knew there was no way I was going to pay down all the debt my wife and I took on when we went to college and grad school.

With that being said, I’m still equipped with the ability to teach… and more importantly, break down trading strategies into bite-sized chunks so everyone can understand.

If you don’t already know, there are different ways we think and learn… and having the right mindset and thirst for knowledge allowed me to evolve from a struggling school teacher with $250K in debt, who was just trying to learn how to trade… into a multimillionaire.  

One psychological “principle” that directly impacts trader development is the “growth mindset” — something that helped me become the trader I am today, as well as teach my strategy to the masses. 

So what’s the growth mindset and how could you tap into it?

 

The Growth Mindset vs. The Fixed Mindset

 

There are two schools of thought when it comes to mindsets: the growth mindset and the fixed mindset.

A fixed mindset is something you don’t want to have… it’s the mentality that your skills and abilities are innate, and this ultimately leads you to become stuck in the mud.

On the other hand, there’s the growth mindset — this is a driven mentality, where one believes hard work, dedication, and critiques will better their skills.

Now, let me ask you this… who do you think will perform better at trading, someone with the growth mindset or the fixed mindset?

Of course the growth mindset.

You see, when you have a growth mindset, you focus all your energy into learning and perfecting a process… until you get to a point when taking names and cashing checks becomes effortless.

Basically, when you have a growth mindset, you understand that your skills and brain are malleable — and you can develop and evolve into a complete trader.

It’s what the media calls “grit”.

So how do you actually develop this mindset, or improve your “grit,” in trading terms?

 

Find a strategy that’s interesting to you

 

If you want to develop your skills as a trader, you have to find something that piques your interest. For example, I wanted to develop a strategy that has a high probability of success, and consistent profits… at least a 70% win rate in trading is considered top-notch.

So what did I go out and do?

I turned to the options market.

Prior to this, I had a not-so-fun bout with buying options… but I soon realized that I was approaching it the wrong way.

Long story short, I developed a strategy that’s allowed me to lock in $113,752.34 in just about three weeks recently.

 

You can hear Daymond John, star of ABC’s Shark Tank and Founder of FUBU, and I talk more about it in this exclusive clip below.

 

 

Simply Develop Grit With More Wins

 

The strategy I developed and want to bring to everyday people so they can get started in the markets on the right foot, actually allows you to build grit as you use it.

You see, when you are trying to develop the growth mindset, or “grit,” we tend to think of what our brains and bodies can do in extreme circumstances.

But in the trading world, the only thing that really matters is winning, whether it be on the day, week, or month… that’s what allows us to live to trade another day and build experience over time.

So if you think about it, you should be looking for a strategy that allows you to win and build your account over time.

The reason, grit, and your mindset are like a muscle.

Think about when you go to the gym… if you want guns… you curl and try to get reps in over time. 

Your brain works the same way… it needs to be worked on and developed over time, and every win in trading lets you pad your account… and proves to you that you can start scaling up (once you’ve got enough wins notched on your belt).

 

Building Strong Habits

 

Lastly, I want to leave you with a few habits that will help you evolve and maintain a growth-oriented mindset.

 

• Journal all your trades. Write down all your wins and losses, and review them. Ultimately, you will find a pattern to what’s working and what’s not. 

• Create a watchlist of your favorite stocks. I’ve found that there are some stocks I do well trading and know the trends. Write down which stocks you tend to do well on and put them on a weekly watchlist with key levels.

• Trade on a schedule. For the most part, I swing trade options now… and I know exactly my holding period, essentially allowing me to “schedule” my wins.

 

The key to evolving as a trader is to have the right mindset. You can choose to have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset… and if you want to be successful as a trader, you can implement what I’ve shared with you to develop grit and become a complete trader.

Lastly, I want to leave you with a short video I made on Twitter.

A college education is not necessarily a ticket to financial freedom, guys & gals.

Fight off the negativity, fight off the critics, and use your past mistakes as learning opportunities to make it happen! pic.twitter.com/eakDz2WSF7

— Jason Bond (@JasonBondPicks) October 22, 2019

 

 

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