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‘I have something weighing on my mind’. An interesting saying, and one which many traders can relate to. When the mind is pre-occupied by worry it is distracted, instead of operating in a clear and rational way with all senses operating logically emotion begins to take hold.
The two most powerful and diametrically opposed emotions are love and hate. In a trading sense it comes down to money. You love trading when you are making money, and hate it when you’re losing it.
Nothing says you are successful more than driving a shiny new BMW and nothing makes you feel smaller than not being able to afford to take your girl out to dinner. Money is a notorious source of unhealthy emotions – but – it is the reason you trade. While money has negative implications such as greed, ego and excess, losing money is even worse. I can tell you not having a day-job and losing one month’s rent in less then 10 minutes is nothing short of terrifying.
When the average retail account holder sits down to trade there is always something weighing on their mind. ‘Will I succeed?’ or ‘How much do I risk on this trade?’. Then there are the personal issues such as family, health and your environment. Real and perceived issues. The list of possible things which could be weighing your mind down could be endless. No wonder 95% of traders are failing!
I can tell you not having a day-job and losing one month’s rent in less then 10 minutes is nothing short of terrifying.
What small speculators should realise is the buying and selling in a market has nothing to do with them. The ability to generate profits has absolutely nothing to do with your perceptions of money or anything in your life. The psychology of trading plays such a huge part in our trading only because we allow it.
I started trading and read about positive mental attitude and thought it was the biggest load of bull**** I had heard of. Years later I can’t imagine an event not having a positive outcome. Sure something may seem bad now, but what is the silver lining. Positive attitude and visions of success is how to put you in the right state of mind so that we can avoid mistakes and make the correct decisions. We need to understand that the negative, weighty thoughts that enter our mind have nothing to do with the reality of the current situation in front of us.
As traders we have to understand that the urge to exit a trade with a small gain or loss despite not having a signal to is the result of a distractive thought and has nothing to do with our thoroughly thought out, historically tested and demonstrated trading method. What we need to grasp is that if we aren’t following our plan then we are going to be wasting our time and money.
Next time you go against your trading plan and it costs you money ask yourself – ‘Do I want to fail?’. You will fail by listening to those negative thoughts in your head and not sticking to your proven trading plan.
Positive and negative thoughts become habit. Studies have shown our brains get addicted to both happy and negative thoughts. Whatever we feed it, our brain becomes.
You will fail by listening to those negative thoughts in your head and not sticking to your proven trading plan.
The real benefit of ignoring all other distractions and just concentrating on the task at hand, and believing in your system is the positive feeling it creates. Thinking and believing of real and lasting success will expand your positive thought processes and kick your perceptions of trading, and the world around you into overdrive. This will allow you to take advantage of trading set ups that appear for you, but also help you deal with that position which seems to be going against you. Stay calm and you might recognise your system was correct and the market is lacking in momentum against your position. Stay the course and heed your trading plan. You believe in it. You are positive about your trading. Your mind is not weighed down.
Everything anyone has ever achieved or created started out with a thought or a vision. More importantly though – they believed it could be achieved. Our success in trading is no different.
Stay the course and heed your trading plan. You believe in it. You are positive about your trading. Once you have selected a trading method, have tested it extensively, close your eyes and ask “Can I see myself as a successful trader?”. If you can answer “yes” to yourself the only thing which can stand in your way is your own self. The only thing that needs to be on your mind when you sit down to trade is how thankful you are for the systems you have which have shown that if followed will put pips in your account and fulfil the vision of you as a successful trader.
The two most powerful and diametrically opposed emotions are love and hate. In a trading sense it comes down to money. You love trading when you are making money, and hate it when you’re losing it.
Nothing says you are successful more than driving a shiny new BMW and nothing makes you feel smaller than not being able to afford to take your girl out to dinner. Money is a notorious source of unhealthy emotions – but – it is the reason you trade. While money has negative implications such as greed, ego and excess, losing money is even worse. I can tell you not having a day-job and losing one month’s rent in less then 10 minutes is nothing short of terrifying.
When the average retail account holder sits down to trade there is always something weighing on their mind. ‘Will I succeed?’ or ‘How much do I risk on this trade?’. Then there are the personal issues such as family, health and your environment. Real and perceived issues. The list of possible things which could be weighing your mind down could be endless. No wonder 95% of traders are failing!
I can tell you not having a day-job and losing one month’s rent in less then 10 minutes is nothing short of terrifying.
What small speculators should realise is the buying and selling in a market has nothing to do with them. The ability to generate profits has absolutely nothing to do with your perceptions of money or anything in your life. The psychology of trading plays such a huge part in our trading only because we allow it.
I started trading and read about positive mental attitude and thought it was the biggest load of bull**** I had heard of. Years later I can’t imagine an event not having a positive outcome. Sure something may seem bad now, but what is the silver lining. Positive attitude and visions of success is how to put you in the right state of mind so that we can avoid mistakes and make the correct decisions. We need to understand that the negative, weighty thoughts that enter our mind have nothing to do with the reality of the current situation in front of us.
As traders we have to understand that the urge to exit a trade with a small gain or loss despite not having a signal to is the result of a distractive thought and has nothing to do with our thoroughly thought out, historically tested and demonstrated trading method. What we need to grasp is that if we aren’t following our plan then we are going to be wasting our time and money.
Next time you go against your trading plan and it costs you money ask yourself – ‘Do I want to fail?’. You will fail by listening to those negative thoughts in your head and not sticking to your proven trading plan.
Positive and negative thoughts become habit. Studies have shown our brains get addicted to both happy and negative thoughts. Whatever we feed it, our brain becomes.
You will fail by listening to those negative thoughts in your head and not sticking to your proven trading plan.
The real benefit of ignoring all other distractions and just concentrating on the task at hand, and believing in your system is the positive feeling it creates. Thinking and believing of real and lasting success will expand your positive thought processes and kick your perceptions of trading, and the world around you into overdrive. This will allow you to take advantage of trading set ups that appear for you, but also help you deal with that position which seems to be going against you. Stay calm and you might recognise your system was correct and the market is lacking in momentum against your position. Stay the course and heed your trading plan. You believe in it. You are positive about your trading. Your mind is not weighed down.
Everything anyone has ever achieved or created started out with a thought or a vision. More importantly though – they believed it could be achieved. Our success in trading is no different.
Stay the course and heed your trading plan. You believe in it. You are positive about your trading. Once you have selected a trading method, have tested it extensively, close your eyes and ask “Can I see myself as a successful trader?”. If you can answer “yes” to yourself the only thing which can stand in your way is your own self. The only thing that needs to be on your mind when you sit down to trade is how thankful you are for the systems you have which have shown that if followed will put pips in your account and fulfil the vision of you as a successful trader.
