“A good traveler has no fixed plan, and is not intent on arriving.” “If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be truly fulfilled.” “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” “People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.” “Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.” “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” “The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.” “When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.” |
Archives of “fulfillment” tag
rssExpectations vs Reality
expecˈtation – noun
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).
Dealing With Losses
A few quick caveats:
- There is no place for denial in successful investing.
- Don’t blame your losses on bad luck or outside manipulators. Accept the responsibility yourself.
- Don’t be dependent upon trading for all your fulfillment and happiness.
- Focus on opportunities, not on regrets.
- Proper risk control and discipline is non-negotiable for every trade everyday.
- Revenge trading – trying to make back a loss – carries with it far too much emotion and is always costly.
- Poor money management skills are the number one reason that novice traders wash out.
- Learn to recognize your impulsive state of mind and take action to stop it.
Even the best traders in the world book small losses on a regular basis. If you manage your emotions with consistency and if you strive for a disciplined trading mindset, then you should have no problem surviving a string of bad trades and showing profits at the end of the year.
Self-Discipline in Trading
Having self-discipline is having the ability to follow through on your plans and goals. Often times we get tugged in various directions and enticed by making choices that don’t help us along our path to our goals and fulfillment.
“The path of least resistance is what makes all rivers and some men crooked.”
– Napoleon Hill
Self-discipline is the ability to make the conscious choice (ultimately it becomes a habit) of doing the thing that will move you towards your goal – and sometimes it’s the hard or unnatural or unpopular thing to do. It’s foregoing instant gratification for the longer term objective. Typically, however, people operate on autopilot and this is dangerous when you have not yet developed the right ‘habits’ for success.
In the trading game, you must have self-discipline. You must look at the entire forest and not focus on one tree. If you get too caught up in each and every trade, you will lose sight of the larger goal.
The key is to care a lot about your overall trading progress, but not care too much about any individual trade.
Your Identity also plays a huge role in this because if you see yourself as someone who lacks self-discipline, then all the will power in the world will not overpower this. You are someone, in your mind, who lacks self-discipline.
So the key components to have self-discipline in Trading are: (more…)
101% U all Should Buy this Book and 101% u should read…………..!!
Just completed reading this Book (Already read 3 times and everytime …..Something NEW…..I learn )
Here are 10 Lessons from the Book :
1. The Process and the Practice: “Confidence doesn’t come from being right all the time: it comes from surviving the many occasions of being wrong” (27).
2. Stress and Distress: “Thinking positively or negatively about performance outcomes interfere with the process of performing. When you focus on the doing, the outcomes take care of themselves” (56).
3. Psychological Well-Being: “We can recognize the happy trader because he is immersed in the process of trading and finds fulfillment from the process even when markets are not open” (72).
4. Steps Toward Self-Improvement: “Your trading strengths can be found in the patterns that repeat across successful trades” (105).
5. Breaking Old Patterns: “Many trading problems are the result of acting out personal dramas in markets” (133)
6. Remapping the Mind: “When we change the lenses through which we view events, we change our responses to those events” (168)
7. Learn New Action Patterns: “Find experienced traders who will not be shy in telling you when you are making mistakes. In their lessons, you will learn to teach yourself” (203)
8. Coaching Your Trading Business: “Long before you seek to trade for a living, you should work at trading competence: just breaking even after costs” (230)
9. Lessons From Trading Professionals: “If you don’t trust yourself or your methods, you will not find the emotional resilience to weather periods of loss” (267)
10. Looking For the Edge: “The simplest [trading] patterns will tend to be the most robust” (311).
And a final admonition: “Know what you do best. Build on strengths. Never stop working on yourself. Never stop improving. Every so often, upset the apple cart and pursue wholly new challenges. The enemy of greatness is not evil; it’s mediocrity. Don’t settle for mediocre” (341).
Technically Yours
Anirudh Sethi/Baroda
Five Principles of Growth and Development for Traders
1) The Bodybuilding Principle – You only grow and develop when you work against significant resistance, lifting more than you can comfortably handle. Hard workouts, then rest: a formula followed by all fine athletes.
2) The Process Principle – Work on doing things well and the outcomes take care of themselves. Focus on outcomes and you interfere with doing things well. Process goals spur improvement; outcome goals create pressure.
3) The Feedback Principle – Turning feedback about how you’re doing into concrete goals for further work channels your development. Work without goals is like exploring without a map: you spend much time wandering aimlessly.
4) The Strengths Principle – You reach your greatest potential by making the most of your distinctive strengths, not by incrementally improving your weaknesses. What you’re good at will fuel your greatest passion and stimulate your highest efforts. (more…)
What Trading Teaches Us About Life
Trading is a crucible of life: it distills, in a matter of minutes, the basic human challenge: the need to judge, plan, and seek values under conditions of risk and uncertainty. In mastering trading, we necessarily face and master ourselves. Very few arenas of life so immediately reward self-development–and punish its absence.
So many life lessons can be culled from trading and the markets:
1) Have a firm stop-loss point for all activities: jobs, relationships, and personal involvements. Successful people are successful because they cut their losing experiences short and ride winning experiences.
2) Diversification works well in life and markets. Multiple, non-correlated sources of fulfillment make it easier to take risks in any one facet of life.
3) In life as in markets, chance truly favors those who are prepared to benefit. Failing to plan truly is planning to fail.
4) Success in trading and life comes from knowing your edge, pressing it when you have the opportunity, and sitting back when that edge is no longer present.
5) Risks and rewards are always proportional. The latter, in life as in markets, requires prudent management of the former.
6) Happiness is the profit we harvest from life. All life’s activities should be periodically reviewed for their return on investment.
7) Embrace change: With volatility comes opportunity, as well as danger.
8) All trends and cycles come to an end. Who anticipates the future, profits.
9) The worst decisions, in life and markets, come from extremes: overconfidence and a lack of confidence.
10) A formula for success in life and finance: never hold an investment that you would not be willing to purchase afresh today.
GEMS from :The Daily Trading Coach
The Daily Trading Coach covers just about any psychology or behavioral issue the trader may face. I cannot help but recommend it. There are 101 lessons here divided into 10 chapters. Let’s dig into each chapter and uncover a gem within.
Today again completed reading this Book…Yes 5th time !!
1. The Process and the Practice: “Confidence doesna’t come from being right all the time: it comes from surviving the many occasions of being wrong” (27).
2. Stress and Distress: “Thinking positively or negatively about performance outcomes interfere with the process of performing. When you focus on the doing, the outcomes take care of themselves” (56).
3. Psychological Well-Being: “We can recognize the happy trader because he is immersed in the process of trading and finds fulfillment from the process even when markets are not open” (72).
4. Steps Toward Self-Improvement: “Your trading strengths can be found in the patterns that repeat across successful trades” (105).
5. Breaking Old Patterns: “Many trading problems are the result of acting out personal dramas in markets” (133)
6. Remapping the Mind: “When we change the lenses through which we view events, we change our responses to those events” (168)
7. Learn New Action Patterns: “Find experienced traders who will not be shy in telling you when you are making mistakes. In their lessons, you will learn to teach yourself” (203)
8. Coaching Your Trading Business: “Long before you seek to trade for a living, you should work at trading competence: just breaking even after costs” (230)
9. Lessons From Trading Professionals: “If you don’t trust yourself or your methods, you will not find the emotional resilience to weather periods of loss” (267)
10. Looking For the Edge: “The simplest [trading] patterns will tend to be the most robust” (311).
And a final admonition: “Know what you do best. Build on strengths. Never stop working on yourself. Never stop improving. Every so often, upset the apple cart and pursue wholly new challenges. The enemy of greatness is not evil; it’s mediocrity. Don’t settle for mediocre” (341).