Friday, August 08, 2014

Trading Education and Coaching: Are They Worthwhile?

One of the most common questions I field concerns whether developing traders should pursue (for a fee) trading education and/or trading coaching.  

Allow me to respond to that question with a different question:  "Should I go to a house of worship each week?"

Well, if going to a church, synagogue, or mosque is going to substitute for doing spiritual work on oneself--if it's merely one box among many to be checked off each week--then, no, there will be little benefit to attending religious services.  

Conversely, if you find a house of worship that speaks deeply to you and that concretely helps you in cultivating your spiritual life, then by all means that is useful.

So it is with trading education or coaching.

My fear is that too many people sign up for support services for traders in lieu of putting in the hard, deliberate practice time needed to gain expertise.  Good coaching and training guide the diligent efforts that take place between coaching and training sessions.  They cannot substitute for those efforts.

If you're contemplating the pursuit of training or coaching, here are a few posts that might help you make a good decision:







There are many good training and development resources out there for traders.  The challenge is not simply to sign up for the best ones, but to craft an ongoing process of learning that leverages those resources and turns them into daily best practices.
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