Lesson 41 · The Journal
The weekly review is where you find patterns. The daily recap is what makes sure there’s something to find. Five minutes, market closed, then walk away.
Right after the close, fill in the fields the import can’t: setup, grade, plan followed, emotion, mistake tag.
Write one sentence: the best thing you did today and the worst.
Don’t analyze yet. Analysis on the same day is mostly emotion.
At the end of a trading day you’re tired, and if the day went badly, you don’t want to look at it. That’s exactly why the recap needs to be short and fixed. It isn’t a review. It’s a checklist you run so nothing gets lost before the weekend.
The five-minute checklist
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Import | Download the day’s executions and bring them into your journal. |
| 2. Label | For each trade: setup name, A/B/C grade, plan followed Y/N, one emotion word, mistake tag if any. |
| 3. Check the stops | Any loss beyond −1R? Mark why: moved stop, gap, slippage. |
| 4. Two sentences | “Best thing I did today: …” and “Worst thing I did today: …” |
| 5. Close it | Close the platform. Done. |
Why not analyze today?
On the day itself, one trade dominates your thinking. A big loss makes every setup look broken; a big win makes every rule look optional. Any conclusion you draw is built on a sample of one day and a lot of adrenaline. Record now, judge at the weekend. The weekly review is where the grouping and counting happens.
The two sentences matter
“Best thing I did” keeps you looking for behavior worth repeating, not just P&L. On a red day it might be “I stopped after hitting my max loss.” That’s a win worth writing down.
“Worst thing I did” is the one line future-you will read on Saturday. Keep it about an action: “Took a third trade in the same stock after two stops” is useful. “Bad day” isn’t.
When you really don’t want to
Some days the recap is the last thing you want to do. On those days, do only steps 1 and 2. The labels are what matter most, because they can’t be recovered later. By Saturday you won’t remember whether that 10:40 trade was FOMO or calm.
Putting it together
- Run the same five-step checklist every day after the close.
- Label every trade while you still remember it.
- Flag any loss beyond −1R and note why.
- Write one best action and one worst action, as actions, not feelings.
- Save the analysis for the weekly review.
An honest word: the recap won’t make a bad day feel better. It just makes sure the day wasn’t wasted as data. Educational content only, not financial advice.
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