14 Things to Give Up For Happier Trading (2 of 3)

Continuing the conversation, here are the next 5 items on my list.

6. Give up complaining.  Do you find yourself complaining about your trading?  What are the results of those complaints?  How are you dealing with the feeling of those complaints? Awareness of those feelings leads to acknowledging those feeling which can lead to action in dealing with those feelings.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism.   Criticism of trading results are often tied to point 1 which is the need to be right.  Listen, we don’t have any control over a trade once it’s in the market.  Sometimes we just get it wrong.  That doesn’t mean that everything you’ve worked for is flawed and needs to be revamped.  We were just on the other side of the market.  Stop, reevaluate your position, and move forward.  Make it that simple.

8. Give up your need to impress.  Who are you as a trader?  Does you’re trading meet your goals and expectations? This phrase should be in front of you every time you sit at your trading screens.  It does not matter what anyone else does in the market.  It only matters what I do in the market.  Repeat that to yourself on a daily basis.  The only person you’re measuring is you.  If you only get 2 ticks or 2 pips or 2 cents out of the market, you have accomplished something that 80% of the population has no idea how to do.  There will always be traders that can get more.  Who cares! What are you able to do?

9. Give up your resistance to change.  If you think about it, this is very counter intuitive to tradeing.  If nothing changes, then we don’t make any money.  But as the old adage says, ” we are creatures of habit.”  Once we set a pattern, we tend to want to stick with it and not make adjustments.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t work in our field. Our trading methods depends upon recognizing market conditions and taking advantage of them.   Trading 10 years ago, when I started is very different than it is today.  If we’re resistant to change then we are resistant to our ability to take advantages in the market.  Nothing is forever and that holds special truth as traders.

10. Give up on your fears.  Fear is a reaction to our perceptions.  Change the perception, we change the use of fear.  For example, the experienced skydiver will have a different gauge for fear then the novice.  Fear can be healthy and useful element in our trading, but only if we understand what it is telling us.  Fear is not the issue but how we react to it.

More to come.

Mark
eTradingCoach