Discover your skill and focus on it. Look back at your past trades with your account statement or whatever record you have of your trading. Decide on where your skill lies. For example, are you good at market timing? Are you good at picking the write sectors? Are you good at day-trading? Look at your track record and decide which is your best skill. Focus on that. Many traders get inundated with trying to perfect everything and yet they are truly good at just a few or perhaps one thing. If you are good at market timing during single days, consider day trading S&P futures for example.

You determine your ultimate fate, not the market. Remember that even though the market may move in your favor, you may still make mistakes. Even, though the market drops, it's possible to make the perfect moves and consider yourself a winner although you may have lost some money. When it comes to the market, the market is all we have to work with! We don't' want to get angry with the only thing we have to work with! That would be like getting mad at oxygen! Instead, keep a detailed journal and of your actions. Make sure you take note of your successes and your mistakes so that you can constantly improve!

In every difficult event or circumstance, we find new understanding and huge benefits. Zig Ziglar likes to say that you can't climb a smooth mountain! That means that the rough edges and (equity drawdowns) help us to advance. Napoleon Hill used to say that every tragedy has the seed of an equivalent benefit in it. It's not just a trading philosophy, but a life philosophy as well. I once went through a huge equity drawdown and it felt like it was the end of the world. But, soon afterwards, I began to scrutinize risk versus reward in an entirely new way. I began to look at new ways to find stocks whose prices were less correlated and even prepared for equity drawdowns the way a Californian architect would prepare for earthquakes (which inevitably happen). My trading techniques became better than ever! The huge drawdown was a key part of my trading education, which is an education I am glad to pass on to customers and readers.

Find someone to compete with.  If you don't work as a trader professionally, team up with a friend. You probably have friends who trade. If they do, ask them to compete with you on a monthly basis trying to beat each other's returns (and keep risk in mind as well). You will find yourself trying harder than ever before and you will have a new resource to learn from. Traders often find solace in having someone to compete with. Often times, their trading buddies give them support right before they are about to quit. Follows these rules and you'll have a leg up on the competition.

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