About objectives, goals and obstacles

A Goal Setting Worksheet is an important building block in the foundation of your trading plan. Your trading strategy is only one component of your trading plan. The objective is for you to make a personal inventory of the resources which you have and of the obstacles which may prevent you from attaining your goals. I am offering a pdf worksheet which you can download, print and complete. Do not treat this exercise lightly. The answers you give will have a great impact on your trading!

Download the Worksheet

Why do I need one?

If I offered you a partnership in a new computer distribution store, some of the first questions I hope we would ask ourselves would be:

  1. Why are we doing this?
  2. What goals do we have for the business?
  3. What are our personal goals?
  4. How will opening up a business help us achieve our personal goals?
  5. What resources do we have to pull this off?
  6. What could potentially stop us from being successful?
  7. How can we eliminate or minimise any obstacles in our way?
  8. What is our business model (trading strategy)?
  9. When do we start?

These nine questions form part of our business plan to start a business.

Trading is a business like any other business

Unfortunately many traders start by going straight to point 8. That is, they start by implementing what they believe is a trading strategy. Often their trading strategy isn’t suitable for their objectives, is poorly defined, and is unproven. That is a recipe for failure! Mostly it is a lack of resources and unforseen obstacles which stop them from succeeding.

Your trading strategy is only one small part of your whole trading system. To trade successfully, your trading strategy needs to be consistent with your whole trading plan. You can’t succeed unless you know clearly what you are trying to achieve. Traders should ask themselves some basic questions about why they want to trade, the resources they have to support their trading, and the obstacles which may prevent them from succeeding. Doing this planning work now will dictate the pace at which you implement your trading strategy, and clearly illustrate if you have the resources to carry out the strategy. Once you have stated your goals, identified your resources and eliminated any obstacles, you are ready to start. The information gleaned from this exercise will become part of your trading strategy.

Please feel free to download and print this pdf worksheet. Make sure you sit down and use this sheet to quietly do a personal audit of your goals and resources, and identify any obstacles to success.
Download the Worksheet

Kind Regards,
Paul Wise