Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Donkey, Carrot + The Edge Of Your Edge.

Like the Flintstones post cautioned, we need to be aware of the fact that the more nuts and bolts we have, i.e. facets of a trading approach, the larger the potential for weakness within said approach. In professional kitchen lingo, those "nuts and bolts" would be the "critical control points" under HACCP.

The fewer we have, the better our chances are of managing them correctly. Therefore, it makes sense to find out what we actually need to make a system effective and ditch everything else.... But not anymore than that.



So we need to find out where the "edge of the edge" is...the point at which removing anymore from the approach causes it to fall apart. Then take a step back. Only then will we be able to do the real work of executing flawlessly (or as close to flawless as we can get) without hiding behind the unnecessary complexity of things which don't add value.

Sometimes the hardest working people are the laziest :).

Of course staying as close to the edge of the edge without surpassing it is key too. Technically it's easy to do...the challenge is mental as we are forever destined to be the donkey who can't get the carrot, but continues to travel great distances. Achilles who can never catch the Tortoise no matter how fast he runs....

Can you make long-term profitable decisions without an anchor chart? Maybe you don't even need charts altogether..? Do you need to trail stops? etc. etc. Get rid of what isn't necessary...execute what IS necessary with greater precision.