Stock Market Update | What The Push-Up Challenge Taught Me About Trading

I just wrapped up a 23-day push-up challenge with my daughter. The goal? 3,124 push-ups to raise awareness for mental health in Australia.

At first glance, it felt overwhelming. Over 3,000 push-ups? That’s a mountain of pain and effort. But the app broke it down into daily bite-sized goals. 135 push-ups a day. A few here, a few there. Some friendly accountability. It became surprisingly… manageable.

There’s a massive lesson in that for trading.

Here’s what the push-up challenge reminded me:

1. Big goals feel impossible until you break them down

Looking at 3,124 push-ups at the start felt just like when a trader stares at the idea of mastering the market.

But when you zoom in—just like setting a daily trading process—you start to make real progress without the stress.

❝ The hard work in trading comes in the preparation. The actual process of trading, however, should be effortless.” 
~ Jack Schwager

2. Procrastination makes everything harder

On the days I delayed, the push-ups sucked. My muscles hurt. My mind resisted.
But on the days I started early, it was easy. The same is true in trading. Delay the work—your system review, your journaling, your backtesting—and everything feels harder. Start early, follow your process, and it flows.

3. Accountability works

Doing the challenge with my daughter made all the difference.

“Hey Dad, have you done your push-ups yet?”
Sometimes we’d compete, sometimes we’d team up. But we always showed up.

In trading, community is just as important. Most traders are isolated, and that isolation kills progress. It’s one of the reasons I built the Enlightened Stock Trading community—so you don’t have to do this alone.

4. Reality doesn’t care about your feelings

Some days I didn’t feel like it. But the reps still needed to be done.
Just like in trading, you can complain, delay, or resist… or you can show up, follow your trading system, and move closer to your goals.

❝ Nobody cares about your financial future more than you… step up and take responsibility for it.”

~ Adrian Reid (Yep, I said that )

5. Routine makes hard things easy

By week three, push-ups weren’t hard anymore. They became part of my day.

Trading is no different. At the start, your daily process might feel clunky. But with time and repetition, it becomes second nature.

So what does this mean for you?

If trading still feels hard, disorganised, or overwhelming, you might still be trying to “wing it.”

But what if you didn’t have to?

What if you had a proven portfolio of systems, a daily plan, and a supportive community to walk with you?

That’s exactly what we’ve built inside The Trader Success System. It’s designed to give traders like you everything you need to make consistent trading a routine part of your life. No guesswork. No overwhelm.

And just like that push-up challenge, once you start… it’s way easier than you think.

Click here to learn more and join us

Stock Market Update:

The markets shrugged off last week’s military tensions as a minor blip and moved higher this week. 

This once again shows that it is better for us traders to ignore the news and just follow our systems. I must say I was a little nervous about what would happen if things escalated, but I didn’t let that translate into my trading and I’m glad I am systematic – my systems do much better than my emotions would.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 broke through to all time highs and the TSX continued to make new highs, which is fantastic news. The ASX and Hong Kong markets didn’t quite follow suit and are hovering just below it’s all time high from February this year.

Whatever is happening in the world, however you are feeling about the markets, I am constantly reminded that systems beat emotions. Turn off the news, stop reading about Trump’s antics on X (note to self – take this advice) and let the systems do the work.

Trading Quote of the Week

This quote should be etched into the mind of every trader.

This week, I saw a large X account confidently claiming that certain altcoins “should be valued” at specific (much higher) levels based on their tech, potential, or some narrative. The post had over a thousand likes, 376 comments and 119 reposts… but here’s the problem:

The market doesn’t price assets based on what someone thinks they should be worth.

It doesn’t care how passionate you are about a coin, how revolutionary the technology sounds, or what price feels fair. If the buyers aren’t there right now, if your trading system doesn’t signal a setup… it’s not a trade. It’s a hope.

Opinions don’t make money. Trading rules do.

Traders get into real trouble when they substitute logic with emotion, or expectations for reality. Just like Livermore said: your opinion might be wrong, but the market never is. Your job isn’t to argue. It’s to observe, quantify, and execute based on a proven system.

This is exactly why we focus on systematic trading. Not vibes. Not narratives. Not “what it should be worth.” Just clear setups, tested strategies, and consistent execution.

So next time you hear someone say “this coin should be $3”, ask yourself:

What does my system say?

If your system says no, then it’s not a trade. It’s a trap.

On the Homefront: Holidays!

We are off to New Zealand shortly to take our daughter to an in person school event (she attends an online school). The school is getting the science students together in Auckland for 3 days of practical experiments. 

So we decided that it would be a good time to have a holiday… we are going to see Hobbiton, the movie sets from Lord of the Rings. We are a bit of a geek family and Lord of the Rings has long been a family favourite! I am really looking forward to checking out the movie sets, eating a meal at the Green Dragon in… and later in the trip floating through glow worm caves on a boat in the pitch black.

If you have been to the North Island of New Zealand I would love to hear your favourite things to do / see there – reply and let me know.

I am also speaking at the Society of Technical Analysts New Zealand meeting in Auckland on 8th of July. So if you live in Auckland – come along and say hi. I have a great presentation lined up for you!

Given you have read this far, please do me a quick and reply to this email and give me a score so I know if you loved or hated this update
(10 = Loved It; 1 = I hate this, I am unsubscribing)

I appreciate you – thanks for reading.

Remember – You are only one trading system away!

Adrian Reid
Founder – Enlightened Stock Trading

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