I really don’t know who started this culture of making yearly resolutions, but, whoever did, surely did a great job, and I guess it’s here to stay.
I personally bought into it, since I was old enough to know that my earthly little sins could hamper my earthly big ambitions over time.
So, every year end, I would go to my worship centre, or lock myself up in my room, act or feel sober, and pray hard that the new year would be better for me.
Each year, my new year resolutions became more ambitious, only to realize that little or nothing was achieved at the end of each year. That didn’t deter me from adding to the seemingly growing list of inactive yearly resolutions.
After a while, I began to realize that my yearly resolutions were piling up and spilling out of my psychological comfort zone. I was now having two lists to brood over.
I became overwhelmed and finally threw in the towel.
There was no point feeling constantly miserable, working on a list that keeps increasing yearly. After giving up on my yearly resolutions, I became happy, but temporarily.
After a while I noticed that stagnancy in my personal life became my best friend, I was growing older, and I had no personal achievement tied to my name, though I knew I had innate talents, executing my plans was what I lacked.
I was stuck in the rut, I had to find a way out, so I embarked on a personal journey to self re-discovery. I started by getting some self help books and not just read them, but digest them as well. One of the first books I read was: “The Richest Man in Babylon”
The book was light (meaning, it had a few pages), and quite interesting to read. After I mentally digested a few books, I started challenging myself with yearly resolutions.
Most times I may not achieve everything I set out to do for the year, but holding myself accountable and looking at the bigger picture, gave me the mental fortitude to move on to the next task.
As I progressed through my journey, it began to dawn on me that:
Making new year resolutions is great, however, it is of no use making them, if you lack the will power and grit to execute .
Fillipo Saga
In my career as a trader, setting yearly goals has helped me to grow and I plan on sharing some tips that has helped me stay on track with my goals:
1. Set realistic goals
Yes it is great to set goals that terrify you, yes it is cool to mentally exaggerate where you want to be in the next 12 months, however, I would advice you not to scare the shit out of yourself when the excitement of setting your yearly goals wears off.
What I am trying to say is:
Dream big, but ensure you break that dream into smaller daily or weekly chunks that are achievable.
Say for instance, you are planning to end the year 2019 with a 50% R.O.I.
Ask yourself one question:
What would be your daily/weekly goal in order to achieve that target, assuming the power of compounding effect is not taken into consideration, since you are planning to make regular withdrawals?
So, if we were to break it down, you would be needing:
0.137% per day to make 50% ROI at the end of the year.
0.97% per week to make 50% ROI at the end of the year.
4.2% per month to make 50% ROI at the end of the year.
Can you see how achievable this big goal of yours is when broken down?
Most of us are so asphyxiated to make it big in life, that we don’t take time to fine tune those little details that could make our life’s portrait a masterpiece.
– Fillipo Saga
2. Change your circle of friends
This sounds so cliche.
I know…,
Let me redefine this. I do not suggest you pick up your phone and call off all the relationships you have with your friends, simply because I said so.
However, you could gradually replace your circle of friends by gradually incorporating pseudo mentors.
How? You may ask… Let’s take it a step further
Today we are so blessed having the social media, however, very few people still use it to their own advantage. On Youtube alone, you have so many professionals having their own channel. They offer free tutorials on whatever profession they are known for.
Guess what?,
Most of their knowledge on their field of expertise is free…, same with Facebook and other social media platforms.
Having these new circle of friends could have a great influence on you. You will gradually realize that, as time passes by you will start reducing the time you spend on unproductive relationships.
In order to keep hammering on your yearly goals, you need to stay constantly inspired. Hanging out with old friends who are not motivated to go anywhere in life is like boarding a ship carrying dead weight.
It slows the ship down and puts pressure on the engines. You may eventually find out that such a ship may end up going nowhere
Don’t be on such a ship my friend.
3. Don’t be scared to dream big
If you lack imaginative powers, please work hard on perfecting them, you will need them here.
A quick question for you here:
Have you ever closed you eyes, not at night when you fall asleep. I mean close your eyes and imagine yourself driving your favorite automobile, living in your dream mansion, while checking out the millions of dollars you have acquired in several bank accounts through your phone or laptop?
You are smiling eh?,
Yeahhh, I am glad I have succeeded in taking you there.
In reality, such dreams may seem to be a tall order, but I can assure you, if the dream feels very real to you, there will be no hustle too great or stressful to commit to, in order to make that dream a reality.
Staying away from unproductive friends, wasting hours of your time in front of your favorite TV show or spending hours playing your treasured video game will become tertiary to you.
Being able to imagine your future successful self, living the dream life today, will contribute into keeping you on that path of consistency.
4. Play the infinite game
In setting yearly goals, it is so easy to lose sight of the difficulties that lies ahead. Most new traders always ask me an amusing but dominant question before they commit to learning forex.
The question is
“How long will it take for me to become profitable”?
My response is never absolute, it almost always ends with:
“It depends”
The truth is, it depends on so many factors, but can be compressed into two, which are:
- Temperament of the trader
- The amount of time the trader is willing to invest to learn the craft
What may take some new traders less than a year to become consistently profitable, it could take other new traders above a year, it is not cast on stone.
However, for either type of traders, the journey is never easy, hence you need to have the grit that surpasses that of an elite marathon runner.
My advice…, learn to play the infinite game, a trader should not come into forex trading with a fire brigade approach in other not to fizzle out early.
Sometimes, if not always, you may need to revisit your yearly goals and make some adjustments, in order to forge ahead. It is one hell of a journey indeed,I tell you!
Mind you, it’s gonna be tough, stressful and would require your 100% commitment, and if you fail a few times while bursting your butt, It’s okay friend.
Keep on slugging it out, there will definitely be a shinning light at the end of the tunnel.
I hope this prepares your mind for the battles 2019 presents to you in your trading career?
That being said, I wish you A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR
Go & Conquer Champ!!
Good job boss
Good one for this season
Josmo Lee,
I am glad you liked it bro.. Thanks a bunch and do have a great year ahead Josmo