Most share market investors think making money from shares is simply a matter of buying them. That's why they listen to other people (who are supposed to be more expert and more experienced than themselves). They listen to share brokers, financial advisers, financial journalists, financial entertainers, share market newsletter authors, economic forecasters and a plethora of others. What's worse is that they listen to non-experts like friends, business associates, relatives and who knows who else.

Why would intelligent people do this? Because they are responding to the very simple desire to make money and grow their wealth. There is nothing wrong with that. But they are also responding to a few other emotions like laziness, greed, wanting quick answers and other perfectly normal human factors.

Well, unfortunately, this approach of using others' advice only works on rare occasions. A lot of the time, the shares are bought and the result ends up as a loss. Most people do not realize that you only make money when you sell shares, not when you buy them. How often do these trusted advisers or non-experts come back and tell you that it is now the right time to sell the shares that they told you about last month?

Interestingly, some people just seem to achieve more of their goals more often than others.

Did you know that it is estimated that only 10% of people commit to actually crystallising their goals by writing them down? And only a further 3% of these people actually review their goals! So, given these statistics, is it any wonder that only a small percentage of traders and investors are successful? It would seem that many traders do not have effective goals in place for their trading, after all, how specific is "make money"?

Your trading goals should take on a long-term view, as trading is a long-term process.

Many plans can be repeatedly implemented for years-and-years. This takes the focus away from any one individual trade, as the results are insignificant to your overall trading approach. A losing trade doesnt have to reflect negatively on your trading goals but can still be a success when considered from the viewpoint of the other measures mentioned.

This concept may sound revolutionary to inexperienced traders, but market veterans have learnt not to take any one, two, three weeks or even the last months trading results to heart. This works both for losing and winning trades, which is helpful in overcoming the usual highs and lows associated with swings in winning and losing trades. Successful trading is the result of an ongoing approach. And, of course, the best guarantee available is your own successful track record.