I almost didn't think this was a serious thread. Of course, having a trade journal helps. Documenting my trades and growing my trading network would be the 2 main things I wish I started earlier in my trading journey.
Keeping a public journal definitely helped me for a number of reasons, primarily in terms of motivation and accountability. It minimized my susceptibility to selective bias when evaluating the effectiveness of my strategies (I couldn’t just ignore my failures), and it boosted my incentive for improving my tactics and techniques (given that I wished to avoid having to post how things were not working, which I could only do by making sure that things were working). However, I day trade Forex rather than invest in stocks, so the data I was looking to evaluate was rather different. Nonetheless, I found it to be extremely convenient to keep a journal online, where I could make comments directly in my browser, which is almost always open anyway, rather than having to switch to my desktop and open up a document inside a folder, inside another folder, somewhere in one of my files some place. This also made it easier to refer back to thoughts I posted days, weeks, months, or even years ago. (I created a handful of journals—not just one.) Searching the forum was more efficient than searching files in my laptop. And in fact, I later discovered that the fastest way to find what I was looking for was to search the forum via Google, which, if I’m being honest, I found navigates me to the specific posts I desire much faster the ET’s keyword search tool. All of this made it easier for me to cobble together an effective system in a somewhat systematic fashion. (I initially thought I might learn something helpful from others on the website along the way, but that almost never happened, I suspect for the following reasons...) First of all, I get the sense that a lot of contributors are not really successful traders, but are merely repeating stuff they read in a book. Head knowledge is of no value to me if one can’t prove that it works when your average Joe tries applying it to day-to-day life, so I kind of learned to recognize and ignore these folks. Then there’s the “if I’m unable to do it, then it must be impossible” crew. Closely related is the “I tried that approach and made a bunch of stupid mistakes, so you’re going to make a mess of it too” cadre. So ironically, part of the value of a public journal for me was it helped me recognize exactly when I had 100% confidence in my system because at that point, comments like those above would not phase/move me in the slightest. At first I would explain why I thought I was still on the right track, even after considering the opinions of others who kept writing that I was trading all wrong. But later, I simply quit responding to them altogether. For example, I would get someone who trades stocks offering advice almost completely unrelated to trading Forex, and I would wonder, “Why in the world am I wasting my time responding to someone who hasn’t the slightest idea what they’re talking about, and doesn’t even realize they haven’t the slightest idea what they’re talking about?” I would include in this group people who think I don’t know what I’m doing just because they didn’t know what they were doing when they tried something similar, or that I’m going to do something stupid just because they did something stupid “back in the day.” The bottom line is that journaling using the EliteTrader platform turned out to be an extremely convenient way for me to synthesize my OWN thoughts, culminating in a system and protocol I finished developing in full last month after starting the process in August of 2017, and with which I am very, very happy. I can’t say whether journals will help anybody else, but it was definitely of value to me personally.
I guess a lot of ET members will disagree with me: Having a journal is very important during the learning period only. Understanding our own mistakes is just the beginning. Feeling the need for a journal is great and that is a 1st steep. In that case, no real money should be traded. Paper trade only. Later with real money at risk, the focus should be on planning, proper record keeping (no detailed journal), risk management, capital preservation, growth, taxes, etc. And the results will come. Focusing all the time on mistakes brings a lot of negativity. Focusing on successes and trying to replicate them is way harder (at least for me) and will bring more success. Happy trades!