The Power of Practice
Across the country, professional and amateur athletes are in the midst of football camps in preparation for their upcoming seasons. While August may be the dog days for baseball, for football, they are a time for preparation when new offenses are installed, new plays and terminology are taught, and game plans are created for the upcoming season. In conjunction with physical workouts, how coaches approach this intense learning period is crucial for how their teams will perform in the early season.
Even before camps start, most teams have some sort of playbook that they distribute to their players months before training camps begin. Knowing the playbook is expected of athletes as knowledge of the various formations and player assignments helps maximize the time once camp begins. No matter how well designed the playbook is, however, and no matter how hard the athlete studies, every coach will tell you that no team truly starts to come together until training camp is well underway.
The plain and simple reason for this is it is difficult to truly become adept at anything through simply studying it. A player may feel that he knows play XYZ, but until he has run the pattern time and time again, he may not feel comfortable enough to fully maximize his potential. For this reason during training camp, a coach may have a team run a play over and over and over again until he feels that they are starting to get it. Sometimes coaches will install minimal plays at the start and just practice those plays with the belief that it is better to be good at the few plays they know then to be mediocre at numerous plays they only marginally know.
For example, last year, the Chicago Bears installed a new offense. Wide receiver Devin Hester said he spent up to 70 percent of his pre-snap thoughts simply thinking what his assignment was on that play. This was valuable time not spent reading the defense in an effort to maximize the plays potential. This wasn't some scrub talking either. This is coming from a future hall-of-famer, who had spent the better part of six months preparing for those plays. A year later, after endless repetitions in the off season and countless hours, Hester now says he spends zero percent thinking about his assignment and 100 percent of his time reading the defense. This helps demonstrate the power of repetition and should get Bears fans excited for the coming year as well.
Repetition and the Financial Markets
Students new to the financial markets can understand the basics of technical analysis, but if they are new to online trading, may become very intimidated with the process. When students call the hotline, some of the most frequent questions are procedural questions, such as how do I place my order with a stop? After a few times of entering a stop, it becomes second nature to them.
More complex problems in financial markets trading are not answered so easily. Successful trading requires the ability to read charts, analyze data, identify correctly entry and potential exit points, and apply proper trade management. Even the most studious individual can gain a lot simply by studying material in a book. Fortunately, they don't have to learn through the school of hard knocks to gain experience.
There are numerous free-to-use virtual trading tools available from most online brokers. If you are new to trading, feel uncomfortable, or had a few trades not go as expected, then think of virtual trading as your training camp. Much like training camp, you likely have plays that you want to master. They may be breakouts, covered calls, retracements, or straddles, but you likely have numerous plays that you want to learn. There is no quick way to become an expert at these plays. However, if you are willing to put in the work and everyday enter virtual trades, then you will find yourself becoming more and more comfortable with the process. You are also likely to identify things you may be doing wrong without having to pay for the experience through making the mistake on a live trade.
There may be the temptation to exit your virtual practice field prematurely after a few of your trades would have resulted in winning trades. At some time you will have to leave the virtual practice field, but only do so once you start to be able to go through the whole process of the trade instinctively reading the chart correctly.
Real Estate Investing and Repetition
There is not the equivalent of the virtual trading room for real estate investors. That does not diminish, however, the powerful effect that repetition and practice can have in many aspects of the real estate arena. One of the most powerful of these areas is practicing the art of negotiation.
If you are a private investor looking for motivated sellers, at some point you are going to have to sit down and have a conversation about what they are willing to sell for. For a lot of people who have never done this before, price negotiation can create a great deal of apprehension. The majority of apprehension comes from the fact that the new real estate investor simply doesn't feel prepared for all of the many questions or objections that the seller may have.
You may feel silly practicing negotiating with yourself, but it can be a tremendously useful experience. Practice your opening over and over until it feels like you are having a natural conversation. Then practice your initial questions, and do a bit of role playing and come up with objections or questions on the other side. Practice how you would respond to those objections or questions, and then go over it again and again and again. Ask those with experience for advice on what you might expect in those first meetings, and then dive in and get some real-life experience by talking to home buyers. Unlike stock trading, you can't lose any money simply be hearing no, and this type of practice can be done just about anywhere, anyplace.
Practice is usually not as fun as the real thing, but is a necessary component to succeeding. Athletes have training camps, and spends months in practice and preparation for just a few hours on the field. For those that trade in the financial markets and invest in real estate, there will come a time when practice becomes obsolete in your newfound professions. Until that time, utilize your spare time as much as possible to get in those extra reps.