The fallacy of this industry is that anyone can trade or invest; even someone's next door neighbor’s grandmother can do it. That alone leads many to believe that everyone can make money in the stock market by simply buy and sell as they see it. In addition, with a small amount of funds, anyone can open an account and immediately start trading. Worst, many are only warned by a small fine print that trading or investing can lead to losses. It’s only a matter of time that the trader begins to realize that the warning is a not a standard disclaimer but a reality. This is when he begins the quest for a winning system, starting with the fundamental side of stock analysis such as company products, competition, earnings per share, corporate and government news and announcements. Then he learns about technical analysis such as indicators, charting, and even neural networks. But one element that is missing in trading is the discipline of self, knowledge and discovery of self that can make him a true consistent trader, no matter how small amount he uses for investment.

Discipline is used in every aspect of everyone’s life, due to obligations and responsibilities to others. But in trading, the trader is not held accountable to anyone except to himself or herself; he does as he likes with it: spend it on hobbies, clothes, consuming food and drinks including losing it in senseless acts, including trading. Many believe that this discipline is the same as the real world. But evaluating objectively, many will fail to the true the definition of discipline. Many give themselves higher regard than it really is. The military are truly trained to be disciplined because in combat they rely upon themselves to live or die; their discipline determines their fate in battles. For civilians, this live-or-die environment is not exposed so true discipline is not acutely tested until trading begins. The analogy of traders dying everyday out in the trading battlefield due to lack of a trading plan and lack of control over oneself in the markets is very similar.

To the average trader, he can sum up that trading is gambling or entertainment expenses. But to make money out of the market on a consistent basis, certain seriousness must be paid to it. This means applying discipline and learning in a methodical way. In trading, no one will judge, criticize or praise the trader’s actions. The only outcome is the account balance. This is the scoring sheet.

Paper trading helps qualify and quantify the degree to which the trader may or may not have discipline. During this period, keeping a diary or journal to record the trades that not only include entries/exits, technical or fundamental reasons and most importantly, personal thoughts and feelings at the moment before taking trade and during the trade. During this period, the trader can begin adjusting and practice to eliminate these vulnerabilities and strengthen consistency. If successful, the trader can begin to trade real money. In case of relapse, the trader must return to stop and re-evaluate the trades to pinpoint where and how the relapse occurred.

Discipline is one of the main ingredients to long term success. In short, lack of discipline leads to overtrading, chasing the market, poor entries, poor exits, poor money management, poor risk management, poor preparation. Once disciplined has been mastered, the above problems will be eliminated. Consistency is the key but consistency requires discipline. Master it and it'll show the path to profitability.