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Expectations vs Reality

expecˈtationnoun

1. belief about (or mental picture of) the future
2. anticipating with confidence of fulfillment
3. the feeling that something is about to happen

I think all of us initially come to this subject with expectations (or as stated above, confidence in the fulfillment of our mental pictures of the future). Obviously having goals is one thing, but expectations are another – the problem is the time lines we set and the source of our expectations.

For instance, what if you expect to make money trading in two years, but in actuality (and unknown to you) it will take five? Surely after two years a thought will enter your head such as “this is not working out how I hoped…”

No wonder – your hopes had no connection to reality.

Even more bizarre, considering the above, is that I imagine almost everyone that gets involved in this subject expects to make money immediately. If you expect to make money immediately, but in reality it takes five years to learn to trade with consistency, then of course blown accounts and negative emotions are virtually guaranteed.

Non of us that wash out are smart – we are dumb. If we were smart, we would demo trade (or make use of facilities such as micro accounts) UNTIL we could actually trade profitably, no matter how many years it took.

Are you able to demo trade for five years? I can hear you now – “no freekin’ way!!!”

Why not? Of course, because you have PLANS don’t you? You have OTHER THINGS that you need to press on with that are dependent on your success in trading; in fact these plans of yours are already LATE due to the unexpected delays you hit with this little ‘ole thing called the Stock Market.

What was it? Quit your job, pay off a debt, new car, beach house by the sea, exotic holiday, help your parents in their old age, total financial freedom from the wage slave arena?

These two things combined, unrealistic expectations + unrelated desires are pure poison to any chance of success you have. I can see that now – I have actually looked within and SEEN the cobwebs of unrelated desires and unrealistic expectations that in fact have nothing to do with the reality of trading. Thats the truly amazing thing; these issues are actually NOT CONNECTED to the subject, they are things that are hanging around it in your head like moths around a flame.

So what to do? Somehow, this subject and this practice of trading needs to be mentally separated out into its own space and be unconnected to anything else, otherwise we are dragging all of this dead weight behind us. The term “mental purity” was a phrase coined by the West Coast trading desk by the Enron traders used to describe the state whereby they have nothing unconscious infecting their trading decisions (such as morals and a conscience in their case! See the book Smartest Guys in the Room – a brilliant read).

Its a good term – somehow we need to achieve mental purity (be free from murky motives and unconscious unrealistic expectations).

A new investment scam out there

NEW SCAM100% return in 4 weeks ! (Guaranteed)
Trick 1) ; Client has to show that he has at least 1 M $USD (with due diligence done on the source of the funds)
Trick 2) ; Client’s funds are never removed from his bank (they show you their contracts, urgent you to show your lawyers, and bankers).
Trick 3) ; Bank issues a confirmation that client has the 1 M $ (clean money)
Trick 4) ; The salesmen then pretends that traders in London will borrow money based on that “confirmation document” and invested in the Forex market ; he then pretends that my client will collect 100% in 4 weeks.
Salesmen usually look above 40, well dressed.
Where is the trick ? Psychological ……….
1) Safety ; they repeat over and over that your money stays with you
2) They call you everday (after market close), and tell you what they traded 🙂
3) After 4 weeks of daily calls, you are so pumped up that you want your 100%
NOW.
4) Before paying you, they ask you to pay the traders, and the salesmen
commissions.
5) You pay 5% ……. then ? Nothing comes …….
Pure psychology ……
Pass this info around
PS : your friends will be in denial at first ; telling you that your are jealous ….

Mental Toughness

MENTALTOUGHNESSYou must eliminate “Human Emotion” as much as possible in this business. It is paramount to success.  Unless you are adapt at predicting the future, your mind is a far weaker ally than all the tools in your toolbox.

Using a Star Wars analogy: the Jedi were superior in mind control and were able to play tricks with weaker minds. Humans are emotional bunches who are not fully prepared for the forex market.

Really once you overcome fear, self-doubt, emotions, and attachment to money you, will be on your way to long term success. Depending on how much power those words have over you, will determine amount of time needed to develop needed skills for growth.

Remember you will learn how to control fear, self-doubt, emotions, and attachment to money as those are human emotions buried inside each of us since birth. Abundance is our birthright, yet many never reach full potential. (more…)