Are You Getting Better or Worse? (There Is No ‘Same’)

The most dangerous lie you can tell yourself in 2026 is that you can just “maintain.”

As we stand at the beginning of a new year, most traders are setting goals.

“I want to make $100k this year.” “I want to get a funded account.” “I want to be more consistent.”

These are all fine. But they miss the most fundamental law of reality.

A few days ago, I was listening to one of my mentors, Myron Golden, and he laid out a principle so simple and so profound it will change the way you approach this year, your trading, and your entire life.

He said that everything in your life is either getting better or it’s getting worse. Nothing is staying the same.

That’s it. That’s the whole game.

The Lie of “Maintaining”

See this through three scientific principles:

1. Inertia: An object at rest stays at rest. If you’re not actively moving forward, you’re stuck.

2. Energy: You are always turning your life force into something. Your trading account, your habits, your relationships... they are all just transformations of your energy and attention.

3. Entropy: Anything left to itself will naturally move toward disorder and decay.

Your trading account doesn’t just “stay the same.” If you’re not actively working to improve your edge, your discipline, and your psychology, your account is decaying. Entropy is at work.

Your skills don’t just “stay the same.” If you’re not actively seeking out new knowledge, reviewing your trades, and pushing your boundaries, your skills are getting duller. Inertia has you in its grip.

If you don’t get better by design, you're getting worse by default.

So the question for 2026 isn’t “What are your goals?”

The real question is: “Are you intentionally getting better today, or are you unintentionally getting worse?”

Applying This to Your Trading

Let’s break this down into the key areas of a trader’s life.

1. Your Fitness (Your Trading Vehicle)

“Am I going to get stronger today, or am I going to get weaker today?”

This isn’t just about the gym. It’s about the high-performance machine that has to show up to the charts every day: you.

•Nutrition: Are you fueling your brain for focus, or are you creating glucose spikes with pre-workout and energy drinks that lead to brain fog and bad decisions?

•Movement: Are you moving your body to manage stress, or are you letting cortisol build up and bleed into your trading?

•Rest: Are you getting enough sleep to make sharp decisions, or are you showing up to the market fatigued and prone to errors?

Every day you don’t intentionally make yourself stronger, you are by default making yourself a weaker, less effective trader.

2. Your Finances (Your Trading Business)

“Am I going to get richer today, or am I going to get poorer today?” This idea doesn't mean you should actively seek to make money

This isn’t just about your P&L for the day. It’s about how you’re building your trading business.

•Leverage (Active Cash Flow): Are you actively working on your edge? Are you journaling, backtesting, and finding ways to increase your profitability? Or are you just hoping the market pays you?

•Lifestyle (Recurring Revenue): Are you building systems? Are you creating a playbook? Are you working towards a point where your trading can support your life, or are you just gambling day to day?

•Legacy (Generational Wealth): Are you building real, transferable wealth? Or are you just churning your account?

If you didn’t take a trade today, did you at least do something to make yourself a better trader tomorrow? If not, you got poorer today.

3. Your Focus (Your Trading Mind)

“Am I going to get smarter today, or am I going to get dumber today?”

In a world of AI, crypto, and rapidly changing markets, you can’t afford to stand still.

•Are you learning about the new technologies that are shaping the future of finance?

•Are you studying the psychology of the market and, more importantly, your own psychology?

•Are you surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you?

Every day you don’t intentionally learn something new, you are by default becoming less relevant.

You Are the Determining Factor

There's a powerful distinction between Contributing Factors (things outside of you, like a bad news event or a random market spike) and Determining Factors (things inside of you, like your discipline, your rules, and your character).

Most traders let contributing factors determine their results. They blame the market, they blame the news, they blame their broker.

Elite traders know that they are the determining factor. A bad market print is just a contributing factor. Their response to it? Their discipline, their risk management, their emotional control. This is what determines the outcome.

As you step into 2026, stop being the object at rest. Stop letting entropy have its way with your trading account. Stop letting contributing factors be your excuse.

Decide, with hyper-intention, to be the outside force that moves your life forward.

Decide to get better today.

Because if you don’t, you’re already getting worse.

Happy New Year. Let’s get to work. Work through proven systems, feedback and accountability to make 2026 your most profitable year yet? Start 2026 off on all cylinders by joining my implementation program. Access the greatest trader within you, get started here: https://tradetopia.pro/syndicate

PS: What’s one small thing you can do today to make yourself a better trader tomorrow? Not a goal for the year. An action for right now.

PPS: If you don’t get better by design, you're getting worse by default. Burn that one into your skull for 2026.

From Tradetopia,

Mike Navarrete 🧙🏽‍♂️