Before This Year Slips Away Like The Rest of Them, Read This.

🟣 Tradetopia Field Notes — Issue #22

Filed: August 2025 | Location: Behind the Screens — Chicago, IL

Seven months are gone.

One hundred and fifty-plus days of trades, habits, wins, slips, lessons, and “I’ll fix it next weeks” are behind you.

And now you stand at the recommitment point.

Most traders drift through this part of the year without even noticing. They carry January’s intentions like a souvenir instead of a compass. They convince themselves that simply knowing what to do is the same as becoming the person who does it.

But this is where the gap grows.

The gap between the trader you intended to be and the trader your results reveal.

The gap between running your system and just orbiting around it.

The gap between movement and progress.

The truth is, you don’t rise to the level of your ambitions, you fall to the level of your identity.

And identity is built from the systems you keep, the environments you operate in, and the decisions you repeat.

That means your August has nothing to do with willpower.

It has everything to do with recalibration.

Recalibration isn’t an overhaul. It’s a ruthless audit.

Look at your days like an engineer hunting for inefficiency.

Where are you leaking focus? Where is your bandwidth fractured?

I’ll go first.

I realized my cardio-before-trading routine was working… but my lifting sessions later in the day were cutting into focus blocks. My output dipped, not because I was lazy, but because my flow was fractured. So I moved both cardio and lifting before I touch the charts. Which means a 5:30 AM gym arrival. Which means an earlier bedtime. Which means my day actually begins the night before.

Small shift. Huge return.

You have your own version of this. The adjustment that turns trading from something you “fit in” to something you anchor your day around.

Here’s the work:

Set aside 30 minutes and ask,

Circle it. Commit to it. Act on it within 24 hours.

No waiting for perfect conditions. No telling yourself you’ll “start Monday.”

Because the recommitment point isn’t about big announcements. It’s about small, non-negotiable shifts that compound into the identity you’ve been trying to force into existence.

From Tradetopia,

Mike Navarrete 🧙🏽‍♂️

PS: If you’re not already in the Tradetopia Exchange, this is where recalibration gets reinforced daily — live calls, trader-to-trader accountability, and direct breakdowns of what’s working right now. Free to join:

https://www.skool.com/tradetopia-free-community/about?ref=b61ae065c9044f3f86557ca116cfc100

PPS: Post your recommitment in the community, double down with public accountability.