Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night." - Charles Schultz, Charlie Brown in Peanuts
Have you ever felt like Charlie Brown in the quote above? What I mean is have you ever taken stock of where you are in your trading and/or your life and thought, " ... This is not working out as I expected." Yeah, I have done that, too. It's really quite simple; trading results and the results of your life all stem from your choices...both good and bad. Choices of course are outgrowths of what you are thinking and feeling, but these thoughts and feelings are to a large extent patterns, and the other word for patterns is "habits." We are creatures of habit. Our choices follow patterns we take with us wherever we go. It is your patterns in thinking and behaving that create your response to circumstances, not the circumstances themselves. Only by becoming aware of these patterns or habits can you begin to choose the life you want. It is much more goal-oriented and proactive to be deliberate and intentional about moving toward what you want, either in the way of trading or living. Circumstances are products of either your choices or the environment, so you are creating future circumstances all the time. Unless you choose to look within to uncover and review those habits that are making your life what it is, you will continually follow the same patterns and habits you have set regardless of how much you say you want to change.
I've written close to 100 of these articles for Online Trading Academy and I thought we'd do something a little different this time as we explore the notion of "habits." Listed below are quotes from the famous to the infamous, from politicians to pundits, from the wise to the weary. As you read and consider these quotes, reflect on how they relate to trading and your life. Additionally, have your Thought Journal handy to jot down epiphanies that you "will" experience. If you are a "critical thinker," and only thinkers read these articles, you will find many useful connections to trading and ... life.
The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. ~Samuel Johnson
A habit is something you can do without thinking - which is why most of us have so many of them. ~Frank A. Clark
Ill habits gather by unseen degrees - As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. ~John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, 1681
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. ~Jim Ryun
Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow. ~Yiddish Proverb
The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones. ~Somerset Maugham
Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity. ~St. Augustine
The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half. ~Feodor Dostoevski
Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables. ~Spanish Proverb
The hard must become habit. The habit must become easy. The easy must become beautiful. ~Doug Henning
Habit is a second nature which prevents us from knowing the first, of which it has neither the cruelties nor the enchantments. ~Marcel Proust
The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change. ~Eng's Principle
The satisfied, the happy, do not live; they fall asleep in habit, near neighbor to annihilation. ~Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life, 1913
Habits are safer than rules; you don't have to watch them. And you don't have to keep them, either. They keep you. ~Frank Crane
Habit is thus the enormous flywheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance, and saves the children of fortune from the envious uprisings of the poor. ~William James, The Principles of Psychology
Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them. ~Confucius, Analects
The best way to break a bad habit is to drop it. ~Leo Aikma
So, how many points did you find that were relevant to trading in those quotes? Now, let's dig a little deeper in this notion of habits and identify some tips for you to use as you deal with changing the bad ones.
Identify one habit you want to instill or change for 30 days ? With daily consistent behavior focused on what you want to change, you'll begin to condition this response. Let's say, for instance, that you want to plan your trade before each entry. After committing to and following through with each trade after 30 days, you will have a new albeit "young" habit. It definitely works to impact upon the automatic programs that run in the background of your mind.
Document your change ? Write down your commitment to a new habit. You can use a computer, but it will be more powerful to use a pen and paper; it's called an ideomotor response that engages not only your brain but your muscles. Additionally, it is more difficult to dismiss something that you have written down than a thought.
Use a Catalyst or Trigger ? Identify a simple behavior or trigger that you can do before the habit. If you wanted to develop a trade plan before entering a trade, you could, for instance, stand up from your trading chair and then promptly sit back down and begin your plan. A trigger helps condition a new pattern more consistently.
Commit to only one habit at a time ? Your intention and attention will be much stronger and apt to withstand the tendency to deviate from your commitment if you focus only on one habit. Resist the urge to multi-task as this will dilute your efforts.
Discover the gain that the bad habit satisfied ? Let's look at a habit of moving a stop-loss. Ask yourself what is the intention of this behavior. For instance, if you stay in the trade, it might go your way and make a profit. Once you discover this intention, you can then identify another way to satisfy it as in, "Protecting my capital first will help me to realize profits more quickly."
When negative thoughts arise, use "but" to neutralize them ? Negative thoughts will raise their ugly head as you begin installing your new program or habit. When you become aware of a negative, power sucking thought, use "but" to counteract them. For example, "It's hard to resist moving my stop because I get so anxious, 'but' I have the strength to follow my "A" Game this time."
Thirty days may turn into 365 ? Have you ever had a good habit like exercising and one day of your schedule, you didn't feel like it; and that one day turned into a couple of months? Well, if you are establishing a new habit, even though it may take hold after 30 days, you still must remain diligent and vigilant about intention to keep your commitment.
Leverage your efforts ? After you have committed to the new habit and have written it down, let the world know of your intentions.
You will be much more prone to sticking to it if you have publicly announced what you're doing. Additionally, make a deal with yourself that you will give yourself a reward for achieving the first 30, 60, 90 days. Also, you could give one of your trading buddies $100 with the provision that you only get it back when you have completed the 30 days.
Create consistency to develop capacity ? The new habit must be executed every day; however, that said, it would be difficult if not a violation of your rules to institute a new trading habit by trading every day. But, your commitment could simply be to follow-through in "every trade." The point here is to be totally consistent in doing the right thing to condition and install this new program.
The "A" Game is what you want to attain and sustain at all times if you want to achieve your desired results. This requires making and keeping good trading habits. We at Online Trading Academy are here to help you do just that. One of the ways we can help you bring your "A" Game is for you to check out Mastering the Mental Game Online and On-location courses. Ask your Online Trading Academy Education Counselors for more information. Also, get my book, "From Pain to Profit: Secrets of the Peak Performance Trader."
Free Forex Signals Free Forex Signal Forex Trading Signals Forex Strategies Forex Trading Strategies
No comments:
Post a Comment