BarroMetrics Views: One Step At A Time
I was reading Alex Mandossian’s Blog today. You may rightly ask “Alex who”? since Alex is well-known as an Internet marketing authority rather than a trader. So what relevance does he have to a financial blog? Read on, Charlie Chan and all will be revealed.
As I was saying, I was reading his blog and in it Alex was writing about the London Black Cabs and The Knowledge. Black Cab drivers in London are the elite of their genre. Black cab drivers must master all the routes and streets contained in a guide published by the Public Carriage Office. To obtain their license, Black Cabbies, without looking at a map, must identify the quickest and most sensible route between two points in the metropolitan area. For each route, the applicants must state:
- the names of the roads used
- when they would cross junctions
- when they would make turns and
- what is ‘alongside’ them at each point.
As you may imagine, the amount of learning required to pass is humongous.
So how do the Black Cabbies do it? Part of their training involves seeking out the memorized routes in scooters. And in this, we again see the Coyle idea of learning through simulation.
At the moment, I am running a test class: applying the Coyle model to the trading arena. Like the Black Cabbies, learning consists not only of the usual lectures but also of exercises - like the seeking of memorized routes in scooters. The results have been heart warming: the improvement in two weeks far surpassed what I thought possible when we first started. The rate of improvement applies irrespective of how long a student has been trading, Indeed, one of the best improvers was someone with little trading experience.
It’s my firm belief that we shall see a revolution in the area of trading education. So if you are looking to improve your learning skills, I’d start with:
- The Talent Code followed by
- Talent is Overrated and
- Dance With Chance: Making Luck For You
All the books build on Anders Ericsson works (e.g. Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance)
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
