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10 Motivational Thoughts

1. You’re going to kill it today

I love this phrase because it puts you in the right mindset. You will kill it today. Youcan push yourself harder and finish that monumental task you’re facing.

2. Think outside of the box

There’s a reason this phrase exists. Creative thinking is what can help you form a strategy in business that actually works, rather than relying on the same old approach.

3. This is your moment

What does it mean to say this is your moment? For starters, both you and Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk have exactly 60 seconds to spend in a minute. You are equals. Make the most of the time you have.

4. The issue you are facing is not insurmountable

Most of us don’t face the challenge of how to get to Mars and back or invent a new mode of transportation. The challenge you are facing today is likely not as insurmountable as you think it is, especially in comparison to other tasks.

5. You are surrounded by a smart team to help you achieve great success

Look around you. Make sure you take account of your employees and co-workers and the skills they offer, because they can help you press ahead and succeed.

6. Dig hard, and you will find the right answer

Stress is often caused by not having an answer to a burning question. Start your day with the attitude that you will find the answer. Make the assumption you will solve problems.

7. You are the only person with your exact blend of talents and skills

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Typical Trading Errors

1.  Refusing to define a loss.
2.  Not getting rid of a losing trade when it is obviously a loser.
3.  Getting locked into a bullheaded opinion about market direction.
4.  Focusing on monetary value of trade instead of market structure.
5.  Revenge trading to recoup a loss.
6.  Not reversing a position when the market is clearly changing direction.
7.  Not following the rules of your strategy.
8.  Planning for a trade and then not taking it.
9.  Not acting on your intuition.
10.  Giving back recent gains due to overtrading or inconsistency.

Apply Will Power in Trading

Much of successful trading has to do with having the discipline, the willpower, to follow the trading plan. And much of a good trading plan goes counter to a human’s natural reactions to the market. Hence the greater your willpower, i.e. the better you are able to have self-control or self-regulation, the better your trading.

Below are some key points from the article and Roy Baumeister’s YouTube videos, and my thoughts on how they apply to trading.

The Nature of Willpower

  • Willpower is a limited resource that gets depleted when you use it.
    • I typically find that my trading at the early part of the session is good. I would follow my trading plan well and profits usually follows. However towards the later part of the morning, I start to make mistakes and go counter to my trading plan, that’s when my results suffer.
    • Be aware of when you have run out of juice. I find that once I start make a few consecutive trades that violate my trading plan, I recognize that my willpower has been depleted, I am not making good decisions, so I go take a break, or stop trading for the day entirely.
    • Some traders recommend not trading for more than 3 hours a day. Yes you may miss a run away market after you stop trading, but recall your experiences when the market trended very well the entire day but yet you lost money. To extract money from the marketsrequires willpower to make the right trading decisions. When you are not able to follow your trading plan, the probabilities favor you giving money to the markets instead, regardless of the market situation.
  • When your willpower is depleted, you feel your emotions more intensely (more…)