Honest Self-Reflection as a Trader

Take a really honest look at your own process and give yourself feedback on what you think you need to do to take your process to a higher level. Try to separate this as objectively as possible from the technical part you need from me as an experienced trader. Look purely at your own process.

Approach your trading as if it were your own business—with its own strategy, operating procedures, inventory, and accounts. Ask yourself the following question and give an honest answer: what challenges do you run into?

"Trading doesn't create problems. It exposes them. Your mindset decides the outcome."
— Sharad Shukla, Risk Analyst

On one of our many big bike trips I met a successful businessman in Sri Lanka who rose from extreme poverty in Bangladesh. He became financially independent based on three simple principles:

1. Identify each day why you are not taking action toward your bigger goal
2. Be thorough and 100% honest about it
3. Take corrective action, repeat these 3 steps daily

That's how simple a success formula can be.

The technical part matters, but it's certainly not the most important part. Many of your challenges sound like valid reasons that keep you from doing what's needed. And that's something you need to face and solve yourself. All I can do is hold up the mirror for you. 80% of your success lies in how honestly you reflect on your process, how well prepared you are for our one-to-one sessions, and what you then do to improve.

Are you the architect of your own success, or does trading not get the priority it deserves? If that's the case, it often shows up as "emotions" while trading. At its core that's usually nothing more than priorities that aren't in order. Take a really honest look at that. And if the answer is yes, that's exactly where your growth starts.

"You are not a manager of circumstance, you're the architect of your life's experience."
— Tony Robbins

Again, take time to sit with this question:
what do you need to take your trading to a higher level?

Aim to develop a calm, controlled, and professional mindset and to work systematically - regardless of the circumstances, regardless of profit or loss. Let go of the reasons holding you back from getting the best out of yourself every day.

A winner's mindset doesn't mean you always win - it means you keep managing yourself, especially when you're losing. That's why the book Best Loser Wins is a great recommendation: success doesn't come from better analysis, but from mastering yourself. A winner's mindset also refuses to give up.

"Every day of our lives, we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference."
— Mignon McLaughlin, Journalist, author and editor

Five rules for a rock-solid foundation:

1. Become a specialist in one setup: reversal or break and retest
2. Have your confirmation points 100% clear and trade with the trend (see example)
3. Take real trades and/or backtest simulated trades (backtesting -> more information) on an asset of your choice - for example over this past week
4. Journal your real and simulated trades, reflect with your mentor and learn
5. Focus on the process, not on wins and losses

It's about screen time. Not about winning or losing. Not even about real trades. It's about time spent in the charts - including on weekends - and reflecting on that.

"It's what you practice in private that you will be rewarded for in public."
— Tony Robbins

This coming Thursday evening, April 9, at 7:00 PM CET, I'm giving a Mastery session on M1ndset. In it I'll walk you through how I ran into myself in trading - and what it took to break through that.

Below is a review of the week based on a few analyses:
DAX - 04/01/2026 - Break and retest long + reversal short (Easy)
US100 - 04/01/2026 - three reversal shorts (Medium)
Anticipating price action - Correlation: XAU/USD, EUR/USD, DXY (Advanced)