The tragic flaw in setting trading goals

Alright, traders, let’s cut the crap. It’s that time again—time to look back at your trading goals and realize you’ve achieved jack shit. You set those lofty targets, and guess what? You didn’t hit them. Surprise, surprise. The market didn’t screw you—you screwed yourself. Let’s break down why you’re still failing miserably and, deep down, why you’re kind of into it.

The Great Goal-Setting Delusion

You’ve probably been fed the same motivational garbage your whole life: set goals, work hard, and success will come. Well, in trading, that advice is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. The market couldn’t care less about your goals. It demands a different kind of psychological masochism that leaves even the most successful people from other fields scratching their heads in confusion.

Everyone tells you to set goals for trading, right? How else will you measure progress and stay motivated? So, you set daily, monthly, and yearly goals, meticulously monitoring your P&L like a hawk. But here’s the kicker: these goals often become the noose from which traders hang themselves. Take a hard look at your trading goals. Did you achieve them? Did you even come close? For most of you, the answer is a big, fat “no.”

Despite your best efforts, you end up stagnant or bleeding capital. Every year, you re-declare your goals, hoping to stumble upon the magic formula that will separate you from the herd. You push harder, only to find yourself even further from success. Why? Because you’re stuck in a cycle of self-sabotage.

Traders live in this vicious cycle for years. They invest in every self-help technique under the sun—trader psychology, NLP, hypnosis, tapping, positive thinking, affirmations, visualizations, the law of attraction. And yet, they remain stuck.

Most traders are experts at setting external goals—profits, income, win percentage—but they never ask what psychological changes need to happen to achieve these goals. They assume their mindset is fine and look elsewhere for solutions. Here’s the harsh truth: you’re the problem.

You’re searching for some magical knowledge or quick fix, thinking it will solve your problems. But you’re confusing Outcome Goals with Performance Goals.

Outcome Goals are the shiny targets you set, like making $250,000 in a year or achieving a 4% monthly ROI. They define what you want, but they don’t fix the real issue.

The Real Issue

The real issue is the mind you bring into the moment of performance. Outcome Goals are just your pathetic attempts to control the uncontrollable. In trading, you can be right and still lose. There’s no certainty, yet you set Outcome Goals as if you can predict and control outcomes in a world ruled by probability.

In trading, the mindset you bring into the moment of performance is the missing edge. It’s the one thing you consistently overlook because you’re too busy trying to preserve your fragile ego. You think you can outsmart the market, but you can’t even outsmart yourself.

Listening to Your Emotions and Learning From Them

Here’s a reality check: Your trading account is a mirror reflecting your psychological barriers. Your emotional response to winning and losing reveals your core beliefs about managing uncertainty. This is the heart of performance. The past is gone, the future hasn’t arrived—what you have is this moment. And it’s the pathway to achieving your Outcome Goals.

The illusion of controlling outcomes ceased to be an option the moment you became a trader. Managing your emotional response to uncertainty and probability is the cornerstone you’ve been rejecting, but it can be the foundation of your success. The question is: Are you ready to embrace the new program, or are you still clinging to an old paradigm that doesn’t work? Your trading account will tell you if you’re willing to listen. Your future success or failure lies in the Performance Goals that keep you grounded in the here and now—this is the moment you can control.

The Nitty-Gritty of Performance Goals

Performance Goals aren’t about envisioning yourself rolling in money or strutting around like a Wall Street hotshot. They’re about the gritty, unglamorous work you put into mastering your own mind. That means dealing with your psychological baggage—fear, greed, overconfidence, self-doubt—and turning it into fuel for your trading engine.

Now, Imagine you're a surgeon. Here’s some inspo…

You wouldn't want to be second-guessing every incision or getting squeamish at the sight of blood. You need to be in the zone, completely focused, and executing with precision. Trading is no different. You need to train your mind to stay cool, calm, and collected no matter what the market throws at you.

If you're still hunting for that one perfect strategy or that magical piece of advice that will turn you into a trading god, stop. It's a fool's errand. The real secret sauce is developing the mental resilience to stick to your plan, no matter how the market gyrates. That’s the edge you’re looking for.

Finally, Embrace the Suck

Trading isn’t about making easy money. It’s about grinding it out, day after day, honing your skills, and sharpening your mental toughness. It’s about taking those gut-wrenching losses and learning from them instead of throwing a pity party. Every loss is a lesson, every setback a setup for a comeback (that’s a mouthful).

Think of your trading account as your therapist. It doesn’t lie. It shows you exactly where you’re screwing up and where you’re making progress. Are you too impulsive? Do you let your winners run or do you cut them short out of fear? Your account will tell you all of this and more, if you’re willing to listen.

The only moment you can control is the here and now. Not the future, not the past—just this moment. So focus on what you can do right now to improve your performance. Set Performance Goals that are within your control, like sticking to your trading plan, managing your risk, and maintaining your composure under pressure.

In the end, it all comes down to this: get your shit together. Stop blaming the market, stop chasing unicorns, and start focusing on the one thing you can control—yourself. Embrace the grind, learn from your mistakes, and keep pushing forward. Your success in trading isn’t a matter of luck or magic—it’s a matter of mastering your own mind.

So, are you ready to stop screwing around and start getting serious about your trading? Then ditch the excuses, set some real Performance Goals, and get to work. Your trading account—and your future self—will thank you.

Happy trading, filthy folks.

PS. If you want to connect with me and my trading comrades, where we share trade ideas, strategy, and more, then you should join our free discord community here.

Connect with me when you’re in there, and maybe we can jam on a livestream ❤️