Did you ever think about how being a Trader is linked to having confidence in yourself?
Throughout my Sports Trading career, I didn’t pay much attention to this aspect until I realised that strong self-confidence had a huge impact on my performance.
What is self-confidence?
Self-confidence, for me, is the trust in my ability to learn, take a lesson from my mistakes, correct them, and achieve the goal I’ve set for myself. As I wrote in the article “It All Starts with Your Beliefs“, I noticed how often my performance was somehow conditioned by self-limiting beliefs until the moment I discovered how these beliefs can be removed and overwritten by empowering beliefs.
That’s why one of the first beliefs I established in my mind is: I always achieve my goals.
How did I firmly believe in this empowering statement?
I simply analyzed my history and the results achieved with lucidity, breadth of vision, and objectivity. For me, data is everything, an undeniable truth.
The dream to live by the sea. Achieved.
The aim of having 80% of my time free. Achieved.
The goal for my businesses to run independently. Achieved.
The plan to get back to my ideal weight from when I was in my 20s. Achieved.
And the list continues. This clear and rational view of my abilities was crucial in creating that strong empowering belief (“I always achieve my goals”). This mindset empowers me to maintain unwavering self-confidence, enabling me to navigate through challenging times, regardless of temporary setbacks.
It’s important to note: this is not about deeming oneself flawless. Quite the opposite. I view perfectionism as an adversary to be challenged.
Embracing mistakes: an important step
Over time, I’ve learned to embrace mistakes, treat them as valuable lessons. On the other hand, self-confidence gives me the certainty to fully exploit the experience gained from those mistakes.
Maintaining high self-confidence is, therefore, a very important factor for productivity. I adhere to three fundamental yet profound principles:
I always assess my results broadly, celebrating successes and learning from failures, ensuring every achievement gets its due recognition.
I scrutinize, nurture, and protect my beliefs, ensuring they remain positive and empowering. This isn’t a passive process; it’s an active defense of the values that propel me forward and enhance my personal and professional life.
I pay little heed to the judgments of others; my self-confidence is solely contingent upon the esteem I hold for myself. I strive to maintain an internal validation that steers clear of the all-too-common chase for external approval.
Unfortunately, the cultural context that teaches us to keep a low profile and encourages a sense of guilt makes maintaining high self-esteem increasingly difficult.
However, I believe that to achieve high-level results, it is an essential factor to work on.
Why settle for a discipline that is often unrecognised, perceived as common gambling, inherently risky, and nerve-wracking? In this article, we delve into the fascinating intersection of mindset and sports trading, illustrating how these elements, when influenced by a passion for soccer, can profoundly shape your career trajectory.
I could have pursued many different activities other than Sports Trading, based on my interests and skills. I could have excelled as a manager in a medium-sized company or perhaps been a better entrepreneur if I opted for greater freedom.
Perhaps I could have been a different entrepreneur if I had grown up in New York during my adolescence. In other times, I could have even become an alchemist, why not? The idea of combining different ingredients to create a unique formula has always fascinated me.
How soccer is shaping my mindset and Sports Trading career
Initially, I thought it was my passion for sports and soccer that led me in this direction. Undoubtedly, that was a part of it, but it’s interesting to explore whether there’s something more.
I’ve already emphasized the importance of valuing your interests and nurturing them in every way possible.
My enthusiasm for soccer manifests itself through an ever-expanding collection of soccer balls in all shapes and colors, strewn throughout my home. Among kicks and dribbles, these cherished objects constantly test the integrity of glass windows, furniture, and occasionally even my marital relationship.
With over 20 years in the world of trading and nearly a decade in the professional arena—marked by my relocation to Slovenia in 2014—it’s remarkable how my interest has remained unwavering.
I wonder how an interest can remain so strong and constant over such a long period. I adore football, of course, but is that enough to base an entire career on? I suspect there’s more to it than just sheer passion.
Personal growth: the real career catalyst
Few months ago, I stumbled upon an enlightening read, “The Buddha and the Badass” by Vishen Lakhiani.
The book resonated with me on many levels, offering valuable insights, not only in the entrepreneurial context but especially for personal growth. One concept that particularly struck a chord was the idea for me: “work is the primary laboratory for personal growth.”
I think my entire professional journey, especially within Sports Trading, is exactly that. It’s my personal lab, a setting where I can continually challenge myself, experiment, and evolve.
As a trader, every day I face challenges, goals, and objectives that keep my interest high and fuel my commitment, both in the short and long term. After all, what is success if it doesn’t align with what you love and what catalyzes your ongoing growth?
The interplay of mindset and Sports Trading success
I believe that Sports Trading is an activity where success is more linked to cultivating a right mindset than a foolproof strategy. I would say it at an 80-20 split, favoring mindset and personal growth. This is why I constantly emphasize the centrality of the psychological aspect in a trader’s professional growth.
Einstein once said, “Everything is energy, and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy; this is physics.“
Don’t get me wrong. A strong mindset alone won’t catapult you into becoming an exceptional Sports Trader. Various areas related to mindset and psychology need due attention.
However, my career allowed me to study, experiment, and apply many principles aligned with Einstein’s theory.
Additionally, the development of a strong mindset won’t be enough for someone starting from scratch today. It’s a starting point, not the endpoint.
Conversely, it will undoubtedly be pivotal for professionals who want to elevate their level of performance.
For me, Sports Trading has been not only a job opportunity but also a gateway to exploring a fantastic world tied to the growth of my psychological and personal faculties.
Other vocations, more action-oriented, wouldn’t offer such a fertile ground for self-exploration.
Sport Trading and ChatGPT can work together? The first day of each year represents for me not only a moment of personal reflection but also the opportunity for a detailed analysis of the past year in the world of Sports Trading.
This year, for the first time, I had a different analysis partner: ChatGPT. Using this advanced artificial intelligence, I uploaded my Excel file containing all the annual movements, requesting specific reports that provided me with crucial insights into my performance.
The advantages of an AI collaborator
Collaborating with ChatGPT has led to significant time saving and deeper analysis of my data. My data processing abilities were no longer a limit. I focused on the right questions, and this formidable assistant provided me with quick and accurate answers. This synergy produced a detailed report, the content of which (including some significant screenshots) revealed fundamental aspects of my trading activity over the past year.
Thanks to this analysis, I was able to:
Identify a type of movement, pattern C, less frequent but strongly impacting negatively on my performance. This discovery led me to exclude this type from my strategy for 2024;
Recognise the most and least performing leagues. Surprisingly, I found that the Premier League, my favorite league where I considered myself very competent, turned out to be among the least profitable;
Adjust the distribution of my future movements based on this new information.
This new partnership with ChatGPT allowed me to set goals to optimize the performance of an already positive year like 2023, reducing errors and leveraging strengths.
The future of Sport Trading and ChatGPT
In this way, a new chapter opens in my trader’s journey, where the integration between human intuition and the advanced analytical capabilities of AI defines a new horizon of possibilities and success.
ChatGPT: a handy solution for everyone
Having a well-structured database, even as simple as an Excel sheet, is vital for effective analysis. It allows you to track your operations over time, observe trends, identify strengths and weaknesses, and make more informed choices. An organized and updated database is an essential tool for any professional trader, especially when integrated with advanced analysis tools like ChatGPT.
Effective analysis steps in Sport Trading with ChatGPT
Formulating questions:
Define which aspects of your performance you want to analyze. For example, you might want to know your best and worst trades, how different markets have performed, or how odds variations influenced your results. Being specific in your questions helps to obtain more precise and useful answers.
Uploading and requesting analysis:
Once you’ve prepared your Excel file, you can upload it during a session with ChatGPT. Subsequently, ask ChatGPT to perform specific analyses on your data. For instance, you can request calculations for ROI (Return on Investment), the effectiveness of certain strategies, or identification of trends and patterns in your trading data.
Interpreting and applying results:
After receiving the analysis results from ChatGPT, it’s important to interpret them in the context of your sports trading strategies. Use these insights to refine your strategy, identify areas for improvement, and make more informed decisions for the future. Remember that analysis tools are just a part of the decision-making process; your experience and intuition remain crucial.
Have you ever considered that Variance in Sport Trading could affect your performance? In this article I will guide you through my experience in order to get better understanding of the concept of Variance.
Theory and practice are equally important. I understood this from the early days of my career and always keep it in mind. The genuine challenge lies in striking the right balance, and achieving this wasn’t automatic for me.
At the age of 16, during my high school years, I developed a deep passion for philosophical thought. In particular the captivating philosophies of Heraclitus and Kant. However, soon after finishing high school, I found myself already saturated with theoretical knowledge and ready to get into action. I started working right away, effectively abandoning a university path I had pursued with little conviction.
The reality is that theory lacks substance without practical experimentation. At the same time, experimentation is much more effective with a solid theoretical foundation.
All of this became immediately clear to me when I encountered the concept of variance in 2018. It marked a significant turning point in my career as a Sports Trader.
Substantial changes happened, particularly in how I managed variations and periodic instability.
What is meant by variance in Sport Trading
Wikipedia defines variance as a statistical measure that quantify the variability of the values taken by the variable itself. To be specific, it measures how much they deviate “quadratically” from the arithmetic mean or expected value.
The term “variance” was introduced in 1918 by Ronald Fisher and has over time replaced the designation of “quadratic standard deviation” used by Karl Pearson.
In practice, variance is a function that defines the periodic fluctuations from the mean values and is a fundamental concept in Sports Trading.
Yes, because the variance mathematically determines the existence of variability concerning expected values (both positive and negative), even in the absence of technical errors.
It’s self-evident that in football, when we assert that fortunate and unfortunate episodes tend to balance out over the course of a year, we are indirectly referencing the concept of variance.
Before learning this concept, I often found myself excessively suffering on a psychological level by unfortunate events. I did not accept and did not understand them (I even worse labeled them as my mistakes. With this emotional rigidity, I ended up influencing the quality of my immediate subsequent decisions.
Consequently, my overall performance suffered, and I became ensnared in a vicious cycle of cause and effect. Instead, the awareness in the long run, supported by a mathematical function, changed my perspective significantly. It has shifted my evaluation, and therefore my mindset, from my daily results to my actions.
Evaluating choices and decisions
From the day I discovered the concept of variance in sport trading, I introduced a numerical evaluation (ranging from 1 to 10) into my database on the quality of my decision, regardless of the outcome. I usually carry out this evaluation the day after the event, with a clear mind, so as to be as unconditioned as possible.
This evaluation helps me periodically analyze the quality of my decision-making processes. It helps me understand how close I am to the strategic model I have set for myself. Furthermore, it allows me to self-critically acknowledge occasions where the result was positive despite an objectively wrong choice and vice versa.
When we are involved in the process, we tend to give excessive importance to negative variance (unlucky incidents) compared to positive variance, sometimes taking credit that we don’t deserve for a positive outcome.
Experience helps us recognize how useful it is to be honest with ourselves. Objective data, in other hand help us improve and grow, both in success and failure.
This is how the ability to recognize variance becomes one of the most important skills for improving your performance. As I’ve mentioned previously, I consider the mental approach to be the cornerstone of this activity.
It’s becoming clear that any aspect aimed at stabilizing and strengthening psychological balance assumes an invaluable aspect.
This is precisely where variance enters the equation! The capacity to recognize it, to acknowledge it, and to manage it effectively.
In terms of SportTrading mindset , “bravery” isn’t just a word; it’s a non-negotiable attribute. I realized this from the very beginning when I took my first steps in the world of Sports Trading.
On this blog, I have consistently underlined the need for discipline, rigorous preparation, and steadfast emotional control. All of that is correct, but it’s not enough.
The insight that restraint often delineates the thin line between modest earnings and mere break-even came to me quickly.
Having a solid method, proper financial management, stable routines, and structured decision-making processes are essential for achieving the first goal of anyone involved in investments: protecting their own capital.
However, once your money is safeguarded, the difference between breaking even and making a profit lies in the ability to go beyond, to accept a reasonable amount of risk, and to trust your own instincts. This principle may appear straightforward, particularly to those innately equipped with a bold streak.
Be aware of external influences
The problem arises when courage is limited by external influences, such as suboptimal psychophysical conditions or a recent negative experience. For me, optimal physical and mental well-being is a priority must to be considered embarking on this journey.
Too often I find myself excessively filtering the events to trade. Doubting my initial perceptions and continually seeking new objective elements to hold back. This is what I call “engaging the handbrake,” an overabundance of prudence.
How can you overcome this issue?
I believe it’s quite natural and, therefore, a common consequence after a bad run or a particularly serious technical mistake. In such cases, you tend to swing to the opposite extreme of caution to compensate and regain your balance.
But it’s helpful to keep in mind a few key tenets to reclaim a balanced confidence in risk:
Nothing depends on a single event
Numbers aren’t everything
Consistency is important
Let’s make each point clearer.
☑️ Nothing depends on a single event
When we recover from a bad run or technical mistakes, we must remind ourselves that a single event, a single decision, whether right or wrong, cannot compromise our long-term trajectory.
The long-term outcome is likely compromised by what we leave behind, which are predictable and avoidable technical errors, not by a single judgment on an event.
☑️ Numbers aren’t everything
Often, after an unhappy period, we become overly rational. We lose trust in our intuition, leading us to sway our judgment with excessively objective criteria.
When we are in a good psychophysical state, we should trust our intuition and afford it at least as much value as we do the objective data.
☑️ The importance of consistency in your Sport Trading Mindset
An overly cautious mindset leads us to fewer investments, and worse, skip entire days, perhaps with few alternatives.
However, it’s essential to keep in mind that not only the quality but also the quantity of positions we open is important.
One lesson I’ve assimilated over time is the critical nature of regaining confidence in ‘the game’ swiftly after a slump, even if our positions aren’t bulletproof, as long as they’re directed by our intuition.
For these reasons, never forget that any activity related to the investment world requires a light mind and a propensity for risk. These are aspects we need to constantly nurture and train.
