Think back to when you first started playing the drums. How awkward did it feel holding a pair of sticks? Tougher yet, how hard was it just to play a single or double stroke roll evenly? What about when you first tried playing a beat on the drums, trying to control each limb independently….frustrating?

So what got you through? Persistence. Persistence is a skill, and a skill which can be honed. The reason you persisted is because consciously or not, each time you mastered a new beat or fill, you confirmed that you can master something. The more you persist, the more you conquer, honing and increasing your persistence skills. Did you ever stop to think everything you can now execute on your instrument was at one point in time, something you could not play at all!

As you continue to persist, a funny thing happens; you develop Trained Habits such as playing beats with a consistent feel and being able to maintain a consistent tempo. These are habits as you don’t need to think about them. In order to continue developing on drums you develop other habits like maintaining a practice routine.

And was practicing and learning new exercises on the drums always easy? Of course not! So who forced you to stick to your practice routine even when it got really frustrating? No-one. Instead, you developed your skill in Self Discipline.

And while you were practicing and persisting, you were developing another skill of goal setting.  Perhaps you set a goal to “play a single stroke roll at ‘x’ beats per minute” or “play the drum part to a song so and so” because it featured one of your favourite drummers. Did you know goal setting is probably the most significant skills champions of all industries refer to as being crucial to their success?



 Let’s roll forward to when you are playing…..

Who’s been nervous or felt the pressure of performing, auditioning for a new band, performing at a recital or when you’ve been playing a gig and without warning, everyone in the band turns to you and yells “drum solo”!  Getting through these situations is due to your skills in Self Mastery.

Other examples of self mastery include keeping your ego in check and not “showing off” (maybe playing too many fills), not being thrown if heckled by the crowd, continuing to play if you drop a stick (or worse, your kick pedal falls apart mid song!), playing with enthusiasm even if you hate the music, or playing on even when you are tired, sick, injured etc

Those who have done a lot of playing and recording know how your approach varies to playing live in small clubs verses playing large venues, verses playing in the recording studio, demonstrating your skills in Flexibility and Adaptability. How did you develop this skill? Experience. It doesn’t come any other way.

And probably the most under estimated skill is the one of Self Review. Despite how you think you might have played something, it is only when you can listen back to yourself that you can objectively determine the quality of your performance.

The skills mentioned are critical to the development and ongoing career of the Professional Trader (someone who buys and sells financial instruments like shares).

Trading, like drums, is a learned skill. There is no such thing as someone who is born with the ability to trade. Successful trading has nothing to do with how “smart” you are. It is a practical skill set (like sport). There are many examples of professional sports people and professional musicians who have successfully made the transition into professional trading.

Trading starts with understanding what is required and then practicing it over and over and over, often including a teacher or coach as part of the process.  If persistent, it starts to work. Continued practice increases the level of skill. Traders will typically practice using simulators. This is no different to drummers sticking to a routine of practice in their practice room

Just as drummers can choose the path of what music to play, what beats and fills to work on, what music to listen to, what music not to listen to etc; Traders develop their own style, trade they way they want to and even choose what to trade. It’s a little known fact that traders develop trading approaches which reflect their own creativity and self expression. But with such freedom, traders need to develop trading habits. There is no rule that says you can’t risk all of your money on one trade!

Having developed a habit of how to trade, the next step for a trader is to trade with real money. Is it different to simulating? Yes, in the same way stepping out of the practice room is different to doing live gigs.

When gigging, you can’t stop a song half way through and start again. When trading with money, you can’t say, “oh that trade didn’t count, let’s start a fresh”

Playing live and mastering every song, every part first time, with no second chances requires a new heightened level of focus, self discipline and self mastery. Often drummers will back off on the sophistication of their grooves and fills and intensity of playing while making this adjustment. They may even make mistakes they never usually make in the practice room. They may tense up and not play with the same loose approach which would normally allow them to groove.

How do you get through this stage? Just keep doing it, continue to review what you are doing, but importantly make a conscious effort to improve.

It’s the same with trading; now that money is on the line, the trader tenses up, feels the pressure of losing money, and starts making mistakes they would never make in the “practice room”. Again, traders have to start small, and continue to develop their self mastery.

Markets around the world are constantly changing (we are now experiencing a financial crisis never before witnessed in our life times). How do traders successfully adapt? Experience. Real-life trading and lots of it is the only way to develop adaptability and flexibility which provides the edge to remain a success in trading. Couple this with ongoing self review, a willingness to change, and a good dose of persistence, and the skill set is complete for a career in trading.


Adam Fiske is an Associate Financial Adviser with Sonray Capital Markets and also gigs regularly with Funk /R&B band Vanilla. You are welcome to contact Adam on Ph 0431 590 915 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it