The Annual Journal Burn — Once a Year I Throw Away 90 % of My Old Notes

Introduction

Most traders hoard every screenshot, every scribble, every emotional rant. I used to. Then I realized the past is the heaviest weight on the Neutral Zone. So once a year, in the last week between Christmas and New Year, I perform the Annual Journal Burn. Ninety percent disappears forever. Ten percent survives. Nothing else. This is the exact ritual — and why it is the ultimate act of detachment.

What the Journal Burn Actually Is

It’s the deliberate destruction of:

old justifications
old emotions
old identities
old “proof” of struggle

So the trader I am today is not anchored to the trader I was yesterday.

How It Feels When the Smoke Clears

It feels like:

the mind suddenly has space
old losses lose their grip
old wins lose their shine
the present becomes very large
breathing gets deeper without effort

Empty. Light. Current.

Why Keeping Everything Is Dangerous

Old journals quietly do four things:

Reinforce ancient fears
Feed subtle ego stories
Create unconscious reference points
Make the past louder than the present

I don’t need reminders of who I was. I need room to be who I am.

The Exact Burn Protocol (Never Changes)

Takes one quiet evening. No music. No rush.

1. Gather Every Journal Volume From the Past 12 Months

Digital folders. Physical notebooks. Screenshots. Everything.

2. Read Nothing

Skim only. Feeling, not analyzing. If a page triggers any emotional charge — it goes.

3. The 10 % That Survives Must Meet All Three Rules

Contains a rule I still enforce today
Shows a pattern I solved permanently
Feels completely neutral when I see it

Everything else is deleted or burned.

4. The Survivors Go Into One Thin Folder

Title: “Still True – 2025” Maximum 30 pages. Often less.

5. The Rest Is Destroyed Immediately

Digital → permanent delete + empty trash
Physical → fireplace or shredder
No backup. No ceremony. Just gone.

6. Final Step — Write One New Blank Page

Date only. Nothing else. The next year begins empty.

What Actually Survived Last Year (Example)

From 400+ pages, 21 made the cut:

My current pre-market checklist
The Size Discipline Ladder diagram
The Monthly Reset template
The Drawdown Protocol one-pager
Three sentences about breathing

Everything else — gone. Even the big wins. Even the brutal losers. All ash or deleted bits.

Myths I Used to Believe

“I’ll forget the lessons” → the body remembers what matters
“I might need proof later” → proof is in the equity curve, not the pages
“It feels disrespectful” → clinging is the real disrespect
“One day I’ll reread them” → I never once have

Letting go is the lesson.

How I Know the Burn Worked

The next January feels like:

charts are new again
hesitation is lower
old stories don’t replay
Neutral Zone starts at 95 % instead of fighting to 70 %

The market didn’t reset. I did. Completely.

Final Thoughts

The Annual Journal Burn is not nostalgia removal. It is identity surgery. A quiet declaration: I am not my history. I am not my wins. I am not my losses. I am the process executing right now. Ninety percent of the past must die so ten percent of the present can live fully. Every year I burn the trader I was to make room for the trader I am. The fire is small. The freedom is large. See you in the new year with almost nothing left and everything still ahead.