Review your decisions and write a journal entry
By the end of this lesson you can
- Review each trade against its original thesis
- Separate process from outcome
- Write a structured review
Read your own notes
Open your trade notes and journal. For each trade, ask: did the thesis play out? Did I follow my rules? Would I make the same decision with the information I had then?
Four boxes
Sort decisions into good process and good outcome, good process and bad outcome, bad process and good outcome, and bad process and bad outcome. The third box is the most dangerous: luck that teaches the wrong lesson.
Write it down
A useful entry includes what you did, why, what happened, what you learned, and one rule you will change or keep.
Try it in VEXA
Real data, so the numbers will differ from the lesson’s examples.
Key terms
- Investment journal
- A written record of decisions, reasons and lessons.
- Process versus outcome
- Separating the quality of a decision from its result.
Paper Challenge task
Write a review entry covering each trade: thesis, rule-following, outcome and lesson.
Simulated trading with virtual money on real end-of-day prices. Nothing is bought or sold for real, and results in a game do not predict real-world results.
Knowledge check · 3 questions
Try it
Write the review entry in the Paper Challenge journal.
Key takeaways
- Review trades against their original thesis.
- Judge process separately from outcome.
- Write what you will change and what you will keep.