A Trader Journal

For a long time I had difficulty keeping a trading journal. On other hand, I had no problem in tracking trading stats and chart diary. Part of the reason, I guess journal was not structured and cumbersome.

Following is a simple 1 page trading journal template that I use currently:

1. What did I do well today? (2-3 lines)
2. What can I do better tomorrow? (2-3 lines)
3. What did I learn today? (2-3 lines)
4. What did the session felt like today? Why? (2-3 lines)
5. What is my plan for tomorrow? 

Restricting the answers to 2-3 lines is not easy. On other hand, it forces the real reasons to bubble up from the noise. One tip - If you have difficulty bubbling up real reasons (happens on some days), try to say it out loud.

To give credit where it is due, I created above revised template for my use some time back based on comments by a veteran trader - Steven Goldstein.

Those who are blessed with the most talent don't necessarily outperform everyone else. It's the people with follow-through who excel - Mary Ash