Saturday, March 08, 2014

Creativity, Ted Williams, and Finding Your Trading Strike Zone

We've all had the experience of perceiving little opportunity in markets.

Is there actually little opportunity, or are we in the wrong mindset to perceive opportunity that is there?

It's an important question.  Successful traders study themselves, the way Ted Williams studied his hitting as a function of where the pitch fell within or around the strike zone.  That study told Ted which pitches to swing at and which to let go.  

As a trader, how well do you know your strike zone?

It's only after understanding your sweet spots that you can properly differentiate between markets that have little opportunity for you and occasions when you are in the wrong frame of mind to perceive and act on legitimate opportunity.

It turns out that exercise has a beneficial impact on creativity.  Creativity also benefits from sleep and from positive mood.  How you manage your personal life ends up being quite important to your ability to generate promising ideas.

But all the creativity in the world won't help if you're swinging at pitches outside your strike zone.

Further Reading:  Trading Lessons From Ted Williams