Book SummaryThe Mental Game of Trading, by Jared Tendler

In a world obsessed with certainty, Maria Konnikova’s The Biggest Bluff reveals how poker—with its blend of skill and chance—teaches invaluable lessons about decision-making in uncertain conditions. A psychologist turned professional poker player, Konnikova demonstrates that while we can’t control life’s outcomes, we can master the decisions we make, dramatically improving our odds of success.

In this guide, we’ll explore Konnikova’s framework for understanding the interplay between skill and luck in poker and beyond. You’ll learn about why poker is a near-perfect crucible for learning about life, why seeking total control is futile, and how to make better decisions in spite of the variance of chance. Throughout the guide, we’ll contextualize Konnikova’s insights with other perspectives on rationality, learning, and decision-making, drawing from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s work on randomness, Matthew Syed’s research on learning from failure, and ancient Stoic wisdom about controlling what we can (and letting go of what we can’t).

Are you struggling to achieve consistent success as a financial trader? Trading consultant Mark Douglas says you don’t need more knowledge or better advice to improve. He claims one factor distinguishes successful traders: a winning mindset. In Trading in the Zone, Douglas explains that when trading, we often mistakenly embody a fear-based mindset instead and avoid risk. Therefore, no matter how much time we spend studying the market, we’ll fail to establish a pattern of winning. To achieve consistent success, we need to train ourselves to think differently and embody the winning mindset, and Douglas tells us how.

In this guide, we’ll present the mental barriers that Douglas says we need to overcome and the core beliefs we need to internalize to trade successfully. We’ll also examine research in psychology, biology, and finance that explores these concepts. Along the way, you’ll learn practical steps to reduce interference from negative thoughts so you can start accumulating wins (and profits).

The way we think about toughness, according to Steve Magness, is all wrong. We traditionally define toughness as a combination of machismo, lack of emotion, and outward displays of dominance and control. But Magness claims that this “old-school” definition of toughness is harmful and that real toughness is defined by confronting reality, acknowledging your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and using a multitude of strategies to cope with discomfort or adversity. In Do Hard Things, Magness provides a new, more accurate, and more effective way of thinking about toughness, which will help you overcome challenges and make better, more thoughtful decisions.

In this guide, we’ll explore why traditional ideas around toughness are not only ineffective but harmful. Then, we’ll look at Magness’ ideas on what it really means to be resilient, and we’ll provide strategies on how to overcome discomfort and adversity. Throughout the guide, we’ll compare Magness’s ideas and strategies with those of other self-help and psychological experts, helping you become a more thoughtful, versatile, and thus tougher person.