Learning New Skills and Staying Motivated

July 16, 2018 / By Nick Radge / Trading Psychology

Does this sound familiar?

You are motivated. You’re excited. You’re yearning to learn a new skill or start a new project.

Yet, once you start, the excitement starts to subside.

The drudgery kicks in.

Entrepreneurs fall into this trap. When looking for new ways to improve and evolve their businesses, they get bored soon into the process.

Their minds are already looking at the next idea to develop.

As humans, learning is a primary aspect of our existence. Yet it’s easy to get distracted and move from one project to the next without ever achieving a sense of satisfaction or completeness.

Doing something new requires hard work, discipline and hours of practice over the longer term.

Like learning a musical instrument.

Or regularly attending the gym after you’ve bought an annual membership.

Or perhaps you’re learning to code a new trading system you want to test.

It can be a catch 22 though. If our environment keeps changing yet we remain unchanged, we can become unsatisfied and disappointed. Yet when we push ourselves to do something new, working for months or even years perfecting our new skills can be exhausting.

Trading can be like this. Most successful traders admit that trading is a boring pursuit.

PASSION is the key.

When you’re passionate about something, then every cell in your body radiates with energy and enthusiasm. A few hours seems like a few minutes.

What if passion isn’t intrinsically there? There are ways to bring it to the surface:

1) Create exciting goals that are measurable, yet also challenging and attainable.
2) Use positive self talk through affirmations and refer to them on a daily basis.
3) Surround yourself with other positive and motivated people, whether it be face to face or through online communities.

Learning new skills and staying motivated is about turning boredom into passion. To become a success at anything in life it takes time and dedication.