Have you ever though about the parallels between being physically fit and being ready to trade effectively? You can't run a marathon competitively if you've been training by sitting on the couch watching TV and eating bon bons. Similarly, you can't expect to make great trades by pulling them out of thin air with no preparation or focus on the goal.

How "fit" are you to trade every day? While many consider most sports to be physical games won by the best athlete, I consider the mind game more important once you master the primary requirements of any game.

I've picked up tennis again (to break the routine of just working out on machines, and I recalled writing an article about trading lessons related to a past French Open semi-final between top seeded (and defending champion) Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten and 4th-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero (who has since become one of the hottest players in the sport). The first two set were nip and tuck until the end of each set, when Keurten broke Ferrero's serve to win each of the two sets. Ferrero's response at the end of the match was "It was a very strange match...It was not a matter of tennis, but it was more a matter of mental fitness." Here the vanquished Ferrero bravely admits that the match was won or lost in the mind, and what happened on the court merely reflected which player was more mentally fit.

As a trader, do you ever feel like you are doing everything you possibly can, trying hard and seeking to find winners, but things just aren't clicking in your trading profitability? I've been there before - we all have at some point. But as Peter Steidlmayer (who created an interesting analysis technique called Market Profile - well documented in the excellent book Steidlmayer on Markets) said, great trading is "10 months grind and 2 months gravy." The secret is to minimize your losses and grind out some smaller profits for most of the year, and then be in the game for the other two months that make up the bulk of your trading profits. Trying to trade like a hero through the tough markets can lead to overtrading, which in turn can lead to many whipsaw trades, resulting in a demoralizing loss in confidence in your trading methodology.Relating back to our tennis analogy for a moment, I saw Guga earlier in the open play a relatively unknown American qualifier, Michael Russell, in what appeared was going to be one of the greatest shocks in French Open history. Russell was whipping the heavily-favored Guga in straight sets. In the final games of the third set, it seemed Russell could do no wrong - it wasn't that Guga was playing horribly, but Russell was unconscious (on one shot he chased down a sure Guga winner from near the baseline, sliding and laid a perfect drop shot just over the net for a remarkable winner). Russell was bearing down on the victory, serving for match point, but Guga hung tough and managed to break Russell in that game, win the tiebreaker for the set, and then crush a demoralized Russell 6-3 and 6-1 in the final two sets. When you feel as if your back is against the wall in trading or you psychologically feel you're losing, here's how to get yourself into a winning mindset:

1. Preparation - Guga never appeared to be hitting bad strokes even when he was losing to Russell. The disciplined approach of Guga eventually won out, but that confidence had to start with Guga knowing he could hit the winners he needed to, once he sensed the opportunity. If you're not prepared, by creating a written trading plan of your goals, and knowing specifically how your battle-tested trading method dictates your entries and exits, you give yourself no chance to confidently execute the plan. If you're flying by the seat of your pants, your emotions will take over and force you into a reactive mentality (for example, selling only after a significant decline). And a disciplined trader will consistently take money from an emotional trader 9 times out of 10.

2. Commitment - As I watched Guga, I was amazed at how he showed a certain determination not to quit when things were not going his way. Even as he faced match point, you had a sense that he would make every shot count. I have learned in life that those who succeed in any endeavor have made a commitment to seeing it through both good times and bad. Those traders who come in to the markets expecting that the market will only provide them winning trades are setting themselves up to quit when they let small losses turn into big losses. Make sure you are committed to a successful trading plan, and then see it through even when times look bleak.

3. Execution - Once you have your plan, you have to execute. One of my biggest challenges has been pulling the trigger once I do my research, because of fear of failure. But I made my life 100 times easier when I took my analysis out of an ego-based approach (where I had to be right) to a systems-based approach (where I had to execute the system, which generated small losses but bigger gains over time). If you focus on execution, you'll take your ego out of the game and worry less about being right and concentrate more on following your system over time to mirror its results.

4. Staying Sharp - Once you start to have success, many traders start to coast. They think they have the game figured out, and now the easy money will just roll in. Such complacency can get a trader right back into another trading funk, so you have to constantly follow your plan and your process to be successful. Once Guga escaped the near-death match with Russell, he started to get ahead of his next two opponents and won the next two matches in straight sets. Make sure you stay focused on consistent success, and if you feel you've reached your trading goal, you should celebrate that day, but come back the next day with a new goal to stretch yourself and stay sharp.

Guga went on to repeat as French Open champion and hoist the winner's trophy yet again. I wish you similar success in your trading results. Do an evaluation this week to make sure you are living the above principles in your trading on a daily basis.

Price Headley is the founder and chief analyst of BigTrends.com.