How to Become Your Own Trading Coach & Mentor: Build Discipline, Strategy & Confidence

Excerpts from the Daily Trading Coach - Lesson 84: Mentor Yourself For Success

Goal of This Lesson:

To help you build a consistent daily review routine that sharpens your edge, strengthens your mindset, and develops your pattern recognition by mentoring yourself the same way a coach would. 

Real-Life Analogy: The Athlete Without a Coach

Imagine a young sprinter training without a coach. No one reviews their stride. No one times their laps. No one breaks down their footage frame by frame. At best, they improve slowly-at worst, they ingrain poor habits.

Now imagine the same sprinter reviewing every race film after practice, journaling their mental state before each run, and seeking feedback from fellow athletes. That’s self-coaching. That’s how elite traders train-especially when flying solo.

The Self-Coaching Blueprint

1. Filter Out the Noise: Trust Your Own Process

Brian Shannon teaches us that the market speaks louder than opinions. He doesn’t ignore outside input but he filters it. Confidence isn’t built by following tips. It’s built by trusting your own judgment, even when it means making mistakes. Mistakes you own are lessons. Tips you follow are gambles.

Action Step: Before every trade, ask: Is this my setup or someone else’s opinion? Have I tested this on my own?

Note: These personal judgements or experiences must be evaluated. Experience alone is nothing. But evaluated experience is something.

2. Review to Internalise Market Feel

Mastery doesn’t come from staring at charts. It comes from reading them with context. Brian reviews hundreds of stocks daily across multiple timeframes, not just to trade them, but to train his eyes.

Action Step: Set 30-60 minutes after market close to replay the day’s moves. Write what happened, what you saw, and what you missed. That’s how you build a “feel” for the market.

3. Use a Mental Checklist Before You Commit

Each morning, Brian asks: How do I feel today? Tired, overconfident, fearful? This daily mental scan allows him to prepare before surprises hit.

Action Step: Create a 4-point morning checklist:

• What’s my emotional state?
• What are the high-probability conditions today?
• Have I visualised how I’ll respond to market surprises?
• What is my trading approach?

Note: A well-defined strategy and approach would largely impact how you would respond to the markets. Most of the time, our mental stresses comes from unclear systems.

4. Don’t Go Alone: Find Your Tribe

Corey Rosenbloom emphasises the power of accountability. Trading can be isolating. But trading with a partner or group brings perspective, motivation, and shared growth.

Action Step: Join or form a small trader group. Meet weekly or daily. Share lessons. Debate trade ideas. Iron sharpens iron. Have lessons from time to time.

5. Think in Concepts, Not Just Setups

Corey’s shift from indicators to concepts was a game-changer. He stopped reacting to signals, be it indicators or news flashes, and started understanding why price moves, how it moves, trend days, consolidations, and momentum.

Action Step: At the end of each week, review your trades and ask:

• Was I trading a setup or a concept?
• Did I understand the context of my entry?

6. Build Your Idealised Trade Notebook

This is Corey’s most powerful habit. After every session, he prints out intraday charts, marks the ideal trades, and compares them to his actual entries. It’s not just about tracking P&L. It’s about training pattern memory.

Action Step: Start your own Ideal Trade Book:

• Choose 1-3 trades per day.
• Annotate them with entries you should have taken.
• Log what setups worked and why.
• Repeat daily.

Note: You can have your own way of visualising your trading frameworks or patterns. You can use notion, one note, and other journal software to log your ideas. Whatever works.

Mentoring Yourself: A Daily Discipline

The secret? Make it daily, not reactive. Don’t wait for losing streaks to reflect. Every day, you’re either building muscle memory or weakening it. Just like athletes track workouts, traders must track their decisions.

Action Plan: Structure Your Self-Coaching

Daily Tasks:

• Morning mental scan: Check emotional and market conditions.
• Execute trades based on your setup.
• After-market review: Replay and annotate the day.
• Record one ideal trade (even if you missed it).
• Note one concept you learned or re-learned.

Weekly Tasks:

• Review the week’s top trades.
• Identify what setups worked best-and why.
• Share insights with a trusted trading partner or group.

Final Thought:

You don’t need a guru to grow-you need accountability, intention, and review. The best traders mentor themselves daily. They don’t just ask “Did I win or lose?” - they ask, “Did I follow my process?”

Remember:

Trading success is not just about execution. It’s about preparation, reflection, and repetition.

Coach yourself like you would coach someone you truly believe in.

Check Out My Contents:

Strategies That You Can Use:

How To Trade & Scalp Indices at the Open Using Smart Money Concepts (SMC)

How to Trade Breakouts Effectively in Day Trading with Smart Money Concepts

Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Day Trading Gold (XAU/USD) with Smart Money Concepts (SMC)

The Power of Multi-Timeframe Analysis in Smart Money Concepts (SMC)

Forex Trading Strategy for Beginners

The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Market Trends and Price Action

Mastering Candlestick Pattern Analysis with the SMC Strategy for Day Trading

Mastering Risk Management: Stop Loss, Take Profit, and Position Sizing

How To Trade News:

Why Smart Money Concepts Work in News-Driven Markets - CPI, NFP, and More

How to Trade NFP Using Smart Money Concepts (SMC)-A Proven Strategy for Forex Traders

How to Trade CPI Like Smart Money - A Step-by-Step Guide Using SMC

Learn How to Trade US Indices:

How to Start Trading Indices and Get into the Stock Market with Low Capital (2025 Guide)

Best Indices to Trade for Day Traders | NASDAQ, S&P 500, DAX + Best Times to Trade Them

How To Trade & Scalp Indices at the Open Using Smart Money Concepts (SMC)

NAS100 - How to Trade the Nasdaq Like a Pro (Smart Money Edition)

How to Trade CPI Like Smart Money - A Step-by-Step Guide Using SMC

Why Smart Money Concepts Work in News-Driven Markets - CPI, NFP, and More

How to Start Trading Gold:

How to Swing Trade Gold (XAU/USD) Using Smart Money Concepts: A Simple Guide for Traders

Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Day Trading Gold (XAU/USD) with Smart Money Concepts (SMC)

The Ultimate Guide to Backtesting and Trading Gold (XAU/USD) Using Smart Money Concepts (SMC)

Why Gold Remains the Ultimate Security in a Shifting World

How to Exit & Take Profits in Trading Gold Like a Pro: Using RSI, Range Breakdowns, and MAs as Your Confluence

How to Start Day Trading:

5 Steps to Start Day Trading: A Strategic Guide for Beginners

8 Steps How to Start Forex Day Trading in 2025: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide

3 Steps to Build a Trading Routine for Consistency and Discipline - Day Trading Edition

Learn how to navigate yourself in times of turmoil:

How to Identify Risk-On and Risk-Off Market Sentiment: A Complete Trader’s Guide

How to Trade Risk-On and Risk-Off Sentiment - With Technical Confirmation

The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Market Trends and Price Action

Want to learn how to trade like the Smart Money?

Mastering the Market with Smart Money Concepts: 5 Strategic Approaches

Mastering Candlestick Pattern Analysis with the SMC Strategy for Day Trading

Understanding Liquidity Sweep: How Smart Money Trades Liquidity Zones in Forex, Gold, US Indices

The SMC Playbook Series Part 1: What Moves the Markets? Key Drivers Behind Forex, Gold & Stock Indices

The SMC Playbook Series Part 2: How to Spot Liquidity Pools in Trading-Internal vs External Liquidity Explained

The SMC Playbook Series Part 3: Market Momentum Explained: Displacement, Manipulation & Imbalances in SMC

The SMC Playbook Series Part 4: How to Confirm Trend Reversal & Direction using SMC

The SMC Playbook Series Part 5: The Power of Multi-Timeframe Analysis in Smart Money Concepts (SMC)

Fair Value Gaps Explained: How Smart Money Leaves Footprints in the Market

Trading Psychology and Continuous Improvement Contents:

The Mental Game of Execution - Debunking the Common Trading Psychology

5 Steps to Backtest a Trading Strategy with AI: A Step-by-Step Guide

Managing Trading Losses: Why You Can Be Wrong and Still Win Big in Trading

The Hidden Threat in Trading: How Performance Anxiety Sabotages Your Edge

Why You Fail in Trading: You Don’t Have Enough Capital to Survive

Why 90% of Retail Traders Fail Even with Profitable Trading Strategies

Follow me for more daily market insights!

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