A journal that helps you review decisions

A minimum record you can sustain

Start with five blocks: context, objective, decision, outcome and review. Context includes instrument, date, zone and scenario. The objective names the skill. For decisions, keep available information, time, action, quantity and rule. Add costs and assumptions to the result.

Write the reason before advancing whenever the exercise permits. Mark notes written afterwards as retrospective. Remembering an outcome can change your explanation of what seemed obvious initially; preserving separate versions helps reveal this.

Review one specific decision

Select an action and reconstruct what you knew at that moment. Compare the planned rule with the action and fill. If data are missing, state which conclusion is unavailable. Do not automatically invent a reason you never recorded.

Synthetic example: you intended one unit but submitted two; price moved favourably. Record the modelled profit and the quantity error. A subsequent position-size check exercise addresses the mistake; the positive result does not cancel it.

Look for repetition without inventing statistics

Use simple labels such as incorrect quantity, missing data or changed rule. Define each label so it can be applied consistently. Include sessions without trades and occasions when you followed the rule; otherwise, the record only shows striking moments.

A small collection helps locate questions and prepare exercises. It cannot establish stable profitability. Separate unfamiliar scenarios from known repetitions; remembering the outcome changes the nature of practice.

Finish with an achievable action

Record one behaviour to preserve, one to practise and a check for the next attempt. Keep the comment short: “verify quantity before each submission” is more actionable than “improve psychology”. Save the record to compare the same behaviour later.

• Observed fact and evidence.
• Applicable rule and difference from the action.
• Next practice and how to check it.