| Coaches are useful for investors and executives who have established skills and would like some help refining their talent. Even among recognized experts, there are often undetected psychological processes that hold them back and prevent full expression of their potential. Marketpsych coaches guide financial practitioners in managing aspects of their daily work that are controllable, avoiding psychological biases, and ignoring irrelevant noise. Coaches build on your strengths and accelerate your performance. Coaches also play a role in seeing behind your personal self-deception. Most people need honest feedback about how they might be inhibiting their own progress. It's not always easy to hear, but such feedback can rapidly accelerate your success.
Investment coaches share many "tricks of the trade" with athletic coaches. While athletes excel at physical activity, investors and executives must excel in mental abilities such as decision making. According to trading psychologist Brett Steenbarger PhD, the primary functions of coaching are to:
(1) facilitate goal-setting,
(2) establish a structure for practice and training,
(3) review performance,
(4) refresh passion for the decision process (not outcomes),
(5) support self-confidence (especially during downturns), and
(6) provide positive support and motivation.
All of these functions of coaching improve athletic performance, and from our experience with clients at Marketpsych, they enhance investment decision making. |
