This week we are joined by a special guest – Dennis Hogan. Dennis is a world champion boxer and today we are looking how he approaches his work and the mindset it takes to reach the pinnacle of your field.
Patterns
Boxing is often thought of as a brutal sport but in reality it is highly strategic and the best boxers are great thinkers. A lot of people think that boxing is simply a matter of being better than the other person, but there is much more to it and going through the motions and just practicing fighting is a good way to get hit hard. Special Guest Dennis Hogan attributes a large portion of his success to his ability to decipher patterns in how his opponents fight and then tailoring a strategy to exploit their weaknesses. Host Andrew Baxter notes that a similar method can be applied to trading in that an ability to recognise patterns has also served him well as he has navigated financial markets over the years.
Tapering Aggression
A critical skill in financial markets is knowing when to get aggressive and sometimes when you need to pull back and try to defend. Dennis explains that in boxing, momentum is massively important and being able to step back, reassess and regroup is vital for gaining that momentum. Both boxing and trading in markets require confidence and jumping straight back into the same thing you were doing after taking a big punch or a large loss to your account can often be destructive and sometimes you need to allow yourself to reassess and rebuild that confidence. In both arenas this is not a sign of weakness, but simply being smart.
Psychology
To succeed at the highest level in anything, one’s mindset is very important. Special Guest Dennis Hogan notes that the mindset that helped him reach an international world title was lost on him for quite a while, particularly moving up the ranks in his teenage years. After years of not quite performing as well as he should have, getting beaten by fighters ranked below him he managed to really focus his mentality to make sure he becomes the world champion.
