Become An Active Learner

The TradingBook.com's Anne-Marie Baiynd explains why it is important to be an "active" learner if you are going to benefit by observing expert traders.

SPEAKER:  My guest today is Anne Marie Baiynd and we are talking about what it really takes to be successful as a trader.  There a lot of E traders at shows like this that are looking for the way to make a lot of money.  We are going to talk to Anne Marie about that.  Anne Marie, a lot of traders would love to be able to look over the shoulder of a trader for a month and just duplicate what they do.  Is that a realistic way to really learn how to become a trader?

ANNE MARIE BAIYND:  It is a realistic way to see what a good trader does, but because you lift weights does not mean I am going to build muscle.  When you watch someone like that, remember that that experience that you are watching has got to become your own and that takes time.  Although it is good to know and watch what successful people do so that you can emulate it, it is the passage of time that builds the strength in a trader. 

SPEAKER:  Does that necessarily mean that I should not buy a course?  I mean there are probably some educational courses out there that are good, but how do I then implement that to become my own style of trader?

ANNE MARIE BAIYND:  You know there are a lot of good ways to trade.  A lot of us come to the trading world without any idea of how to trade and so learning a system is a very good way, but just as you said trading has to be an individual game.  There are certain things that are going to work for you that are not going to necessarily work for the person that taught you.  When you do begin trading after looking at a system, you just have to realize that it has to build neural pathways.  Imagine your mind as a field with nothing but grass and you are learning to trade, you have to build those grooves so that you can see the roads you need to take.  Someone can show you those roads, but unless you take those roads and turn them into cement, gravel or pavement, they are not going to sit in your system mentally and you are not going to be able to make the same decisions as someone experienced. 

SPEAKER:  If somebody is in a chat room and somebody is calling out trades, what to buy or sell, certainly that can work, but how do I then take that experience and then turn it into my own so that I can find these same trades on my own?

ANNE MARIE BAIYND:  You know essentially if you are in a room where somebody is just calling out trades that is not going to be in your future.  You are not going to be able to just know simply because that happens.  Simply because somebody says hey buy here, it is the why and the thought process that is important.  If you find a room, find a room with someone that explains their thought process that their goal is to help you become an independent thinker.  I think about trading like this, have you ever ridden in the car and somebody is singing a song on the radio, you start singing, the radio goes off and you are like I do not know any of these words.  Trading is a lot like that when you are watching somebody and you are not using your mind to think actively rather than passively.  We are passive learners because it is easy.  You have to become active learners and so when you are in that space where you are learning from somebody, try to make sure that you are actively thinking about why the decisions are being made as opposed to okay I just need to buy here. 

SPEAKER:  Anne Marie thanks for your time. 

ANNE MARIE BAIYND:  Thanks for having me. 

SPEAKER: You are watching the Money Show.com Video Network.