A five minute review that sticks
Reviews die from ambition. The version that survives is five minutes long, asks three questions, and happens before the platform closes.
Most traders have attempted the grand review: screenshots annotated in four colors, a spreadsheet with twenty columns, a Sunday deep-dive that was genuinely useful exactly once. By Wednesday the ritual is dead and the guilt lives in its place.
Shrink it until it survives
A review you do every day beats a masterpiece you do twice a month. The daily version needs to fit in the gap between the last trade and standing up. Five minutes. Three questions. Same order every time.
- Verdict every tradeDid the entry and the exit follow the plan? Yes or no, per trade, no commentary yet.
- Name the weak decisionThe single decision you are least proud of today, and what triggered it. One line.
- Carry one thing forwardThe one behavior worth repeating tomorrow. Naming it is the rep.
A review closes the day so it does not follow you home. The analysis is interest, not principal.
Write less than you think you should
One honest sentence per trade beats a paragraph of narrative. The narrative is for your future self reading a month of entries in one sitting; keep it scannable. Patterns show up across thirty short notes far better than across four long ones.
A note that helps nobody
“Bad entry, market was crazy today, need to focus more.”
A note your future self can use
“Entered before the retest because I was afraid to miss it. Plan said wait for the close.”
Inside reps the day review mirrors your trade notes, and the streak counts a day with a written review even when you did not trade. The habit is the product; the insight is the interest it pays.