Options Trading Education – The Importance of Setting Deadlines & Goals

I understand that options trading can be overwhelming and confusing with so much to review and consume. Recently, I found myself in the same situation with a development project for the website, and I thought that it would be a great discussion for the podcast and potentially help you in your options education journey.

About a month ago I was hitting a brick wall in rolling out some improvements and changes to the Option Alpha platform. There was so much to do, and I didn't know where to start first. We needed to update SEO stuff, website navigation menus, page layouts, servers, etc. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed with the workload and assumed it would take months to finish. On the recommendation of one of my coaches (yes I have coaches too!) I implemented a couple of deadline and phase strategies that I cover in the show.

The result is that my team and I finished all of our updates and enhancements much faster than I expected and are off to the next project for you all. And as simple as these strategies might sound during the show, I promise you that they made the world of difference for me in quickly educating myself and organizing my time and activities and I know it'll help you if you take action today.

Key Points from Today's Show:

• The Number One Excuse: "I don't have enough time".
• We all have enough time if we prioritize what is important to yourself and your goals.
• If the goal is something you really want to do, you need to cut out everything else that is not important.
• Be regimented in focusing your time on what is important and getting through it.

1. Set a big, hard deadline

• When you have a deadline, it motivates you to work harder to get everything completed.
• For example: leaving for vacation, or when your baby is due - the deadlines are not up for negotiation.
• The deadline cannot be moved or passed. This forces you to focus on the most critical aspects.

2. Cut your deadline time in half

• When a deadline is fast, it gives you a burst of adrenaline and anxiety to get it done.
• What derails most people from reaching their goals is just the aspect of starting.
• Cutting your deadline in half forces you to start faster, and you complete it much sooner than you would have.

3. Focus on themes, categories, and phases

• You have to focus on smaller subsets that work towards the big ending goal.
• Focus on one specific section of education, for example, a theme for the week.
• This can help you find a starting point, putting your focus on areas of struggle.

4. Be accountable to someone else

• If you are accountable to yourself, you will always find an excuse for not doing it.
• Posting publicly allows you to find accountability with your audience or friends and family.
• Make sure that your accountability partner checks in with you to remind you of your progress.

5. Your goal has to have a reward

• You have to identify the rewards that are sufficient to motivate you towards your goals.
• Reward yourself to psychologically reinforce the actions that you took to get to that point.
• Reflect on the process to allow you to re-motivated to move onto the next phase.