In working with some of the most successful traders over the years, I have found that the greatest contributor to their success is the exceptional role models they have emulated. It is also true that many traders have been enticed by someone who does not have their best interest at heart, which results in their not realizing their full potential.

In revisiting who has influenced you the most, you can also see what has led you to where you are now. Let's look at some of the different types of role models for the trader.

Immediate and Extended Family

A child will follow someone who shows an interest in him. Any skill set that a family member is willing to teach a child will give him the model for his first experience of that skill.

The child learns, not only that skill, but also the habits, beliefs, discipline and confidence in himself that his mentor is teaching him. This can be the best foundation for future connections with great mentors, or it can lead to choosing the wrong people to follow.

Traders who have mentors from an early age who encourage a good work ethic and instill confidence in them are going to find that their journey to becoming a trader will be easier. Those individuals who have had negative influences from a young age often need private work in order to transform their behaviors and beliefs.

Friends and Colleagues

Everyone wants to feel important, worthy and recognized. Depending on the confidence level of a child, he will learn to be a leader or follower or maybe how to be independent of social influences. These three ways to be in the world can exhibit themselves in unique behaviors.

• If he is a leader and shares skills that have value, he will increase his own abilities.
• If he is a follower, those he chooses to follow will determine his level of success.
• If he is an independent type of individual, he might choose to use his influence in a positive or negative direction.

The well-rounded trader is someone who feels comfortable as a leader or as a follower and is ultimately able to make choices without the influence of or need for others.

In coaching, I have witnessed traders whose lives were shattered by one person's opinion of them, and I have known others who have soared based on someone seeing them as special. The healthiest position is the one in which a person sees him or herself as worthy, desirable and capable without the need for anyone's approval.

Teachers, Books and Other Forms of Learning

A trader can find one or more role models who can influence every new direction in his life. When evaluating traders, I ask them who was the role model who influenced them most as a trader. I'm happy to hear when the person they chose to follow is a person I know to be a competent teacher.

Unfortunately, many times, the person whom they hold in esteem I know will only lead them to losses and shattered dreams. A good coach knows how to encourage a client to find good role models for their particular needs.

The wonderful thing about good role models is that they are available for those who are willing to seek them out. For a trader, having a good role model is the difference between being highly successful versus discovering success or failure on your own.

A good role model can be someone who is willing to teach you for free, someone who has shared his knowledge in a book or someone who may cost a great deal of money. In my experience, I have seen success in traders as a result of each one of these sources for modeling.

The Most Important Thing about Role Models

When a person has experienced good role models, he or she takes from those experiences the ability to model the best part of themselves. That model then becomes their own teacher for a greater experience of success in all aspects of life, including trading.

*Reprinted (and modified) with permission from Adrienne Toghraie, a Trader's Success Coach, an internationally recognized authority in the field of human development for the financial community and author of 13 books on the psychology of trading, including The Winning Edge series 1 - 4 and Traders' Secrets, highly praised by financial magazines, as well as through television appearances and keynote addresses at major industry conferences.