The Art of Doing Nothing

“Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.”

-Gary Kasparov (Greatest chess player of all time)

I really do love chess, among way too many other hobbies. Last year I took a masterclass on chess taught by Kasparov, and when I heard the above quote it floored me. The quote resonates deeply with what I think is one of the core necessities of good trading. It creates separation between different systems we must access as traders, both internally and analytically. Let’s discuss.

Process is such a big word for me with students. Understanding it, defining it, creating it in objective terms, creating checklists to reference it easily, setting process-based goals, and more. I think a good process will take you further towards mastering trading than just about anything else. A good process, by definition, means you will have done a good job of defining your strategy.

Strategy you say, that sounds familiar. Ah, yes it’s from Kasparov’s quote. Let’s go back to it: “Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.” So when we break this down what it really means is that having a strategy tells us when to be active, and when to actively, consciously, willingly, do nothing. Traders often use the term “sit on your hands” referring to the sentiment of when you want to do something but you need extra discipline and effort not to. You see, this is not good enough.

What’s good enough is refining your process, your strategy, so well that you willingly accept that there are places at the hard right edge of the chart where it’s your job to pull out your bag of tactics (another word from the quote) and go to work, and where it’s your job and hopefully, ultimately your will- requiring no extra discipline or willpower- to sit back and accept that you should “do nothing.”

Strategy comes first. Tactics follow as strategy dictates. Strategy may dictate that your process/methodology/system/edge has no opportunity at the moment, so you should keep all those tactics put away for now.

The problem for many is we want to machine-gun fire all our tactics throughout the trading session. This doesn’t work and is actually related to the need for cycling between systems I mentioned in this post.

Context is king. I’ve said that for many years now. I think this quote and article sum up in more depth what I really mean by that.

Trade well,