The post hits squarely upon key philosophies that can greatly improve attitude and overall efficacy. And I wanted to post it here as a reminder to myself. Why? Because I need reminding! Falling into the abyss of emotionalism versus pattern-recognition-mode even just once per week/month can result in a big tuition payment.
If the market is war for you, you are going to be in the
fighting mode all the time. Can you function well for long in a constant fight
mode? It's extremely tense mode which is going to wear you out rather quickly.
Instead, allow me to offer you a very different attitude - one where a market
is a natural environment for a trader - environment where certain patterns
govern all the comings and goings. Is it a dangerous place for a trader? Of
course it is. Think of it as of ocean. It's a dangerous
place to be and swimming in it is a dangerous thing to do - just as trading the
markets.
But is it practically useful to think of ocean as a battlefield
and sharks as enemies? Try to approach it this way, and you start making your
decisions based on emotions, anger, frustration, feeling of being powerless and
moving to inevitable defeat.
Instead, try to think of it as a place that is indifferent to
you - not friendly, not hostile - but simply a natural environment where
incorrect behavior gets you killed. Now instead of emotions you focus on
studying patterns - which current goes where, whether it will take you where
you need to be, where the sharks are and what the signs of them circling are,
how you recognize their approach, how you spot fish that you can catch and
eat... That's your cold-blooded trading approach where you act accordingly to
the patterns and not to what your emotions would have you do.
Those who you may want to dub as enemies out of concept of
fairness and other similar ideas (which are not the nature ideas but entirely
man-made) are those who create these patterns and are part of them. Consider
them enemies - and you find yourself fighting those patterns. Consider them
part of the environment - and you start studying and following those patterns.
http://blog.realitytrader.com/2012/02/is-market-battlefield-for-you.html
2 comments:
I'm not a trader, but this philosophy makes perfect sense to me. Trading is a high risk business and therefore to see hazards clearly, emotional neutrality is key.
I'm reminded of the first time I rappelled over 100ft without belay and my life was in my own hands. My husband told me I couldn't let go of the rope under any circumstances or I would die including if a bee stung me in the eye or a bat flew in my mouth! There was no benefit in being fearful of the hazards; only awareness served me. I was wide awake - perhaps for the first time in my life.
Observing without judgment, a central tenet of Buddhism and its modern day equivalent, Mindfulness, is another way of looking at it. We are freed to recognize patterns and deal with dangers.
How can I not visualize a bat flying into your mouth as you struggle to hang on 100 feet above the ground? You really are too funny.
Yes, observing without judgement is key. And my experience indicates that, it's just not all that easy to do so :)
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