Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
Wednesday, March 10th at 6:30 PM Central Time; 7:30 PM Eastern Time in the U.S. To register for the session, sign up at [COLOR=black]the Go-To-Webinar sign up page[/COLOR]. There may be limits on the number of participants, so please sign up promptly if you're interested.
The most important reinforcements learned from Brett's Webinar.
Having a balanced life is essential for progressing as a successful trader.
Taking breaks, both mini & extended during the day.
Exercise regenerates the body & improves mental health.
You need diversified interests and balance in you life. Personally I enjoy chess, orchids, cooking, wine, motorcycles/bicycles, Giants Baseball @ At&T park on a summer afternoon, and producing photo-based art (see my profile & FaceBook page).
When taking breaks do something not related to trading - no coding. As an example I play on-line chess, or mist my orchids, or run down to the store and get ideas for dinner, then decide what wine I want to open for dinner - a lot harder than it sounds.
Exercise is what I miss most in life, but I should be able to resume this in the future. See Covert Bailey's Fit or Fat for a great plan. Exercise is evolutionarily rewarded and helps your mental as well as your physical health. Both essential for being a successful trader.
R.I.P. Andy Zektzer (ZTR), 1960-2010.
Please visit this thread for more information.
My trading has suffered due to my health problems. I know - no excuses - but I really have a good one.
Plus, Moderating is a stimulating, yet distracting, task that gives me personal satisfaction when trading is too hard to accomplish. Noticed that my attention span is really short. It is fine to daze out when reading posts, beta testing or marking up charts, checking key works and seeing if indicators posted work in NT7... Daze out during in a trade & you can blow up your account. I once missed a Fed Announcement & took a $750 loss. Make sense?
Trading is really hard work that requires constant concentration, at least for me, if I can't get into the zone then my trading suffers. Have read some interesting posts lately on this - BigMike's Thread, cunparis' & many more, but have been unable to implement much of it.
Hope that will change soon as I am finally responding to photopheresis & can get off the steroids and methadone (that is a dangerous combination that causes mania then a crash).
Plan on reviewing the 1st 50 chapters this week and see how well I do following my rules, posted above and in my Journal.
I've said it before & I'll say it again: I am so glad I found this Forum, it is like cognitive psychology on a computer.
Thanks to everyone here trying to help each other.
R.I.P. Andy Zektzer (ZTR), 1960-2010.
Please visit this thread for more information.
I have been meaning to order this book for months. I just pulled the trigger. The only thing standing
between me and success, are my emotions. I appear to have the technicals well in hand. I just need the
confidence to execute the trade when my instincts tell me to and not second guess.
I have churned through plenty of trading books - haven't we all? And this a firm favorite. I originally read it and thought yes that was interesting, and then returned more often as I realised the part that psychology plays. I have read it three times and I am currently noting up each lesson - and undertaking the exercises. About half way through doing that. I do this in my break between am and pm trading sessions which brings the good doctor to my side. That helps enormously as I can then thumb through and re-read any lesson which is relevant from the morning session and on which I want to focus for the afternoon.
My advice is to get Dr. Brett by your side too!
Thought I might summarise here any of the lessons or take aways I glean from the book for anyone who hasn't yet got it on their desk. Whilst trying not to hi-jack the thread of course.
The book is organised in 10 chapters and has 10 lessons in each. The lessons are bite-sized and can be read in a few minutes. There are tasks to undertake for each lesson. So there is a clear a structure to the learning and it does not have to be taken 'front to back', you can read and apply what ever is relevant to you.
Here are the chapter titles:
1. Change: The Process & The Practice
2. Stress & Distress: Creative Coping For Traders
3. Psychological Well-being: Enhancing Trading Experience
4. Steps Towards Self-Improvement: The Coaching Process
5. Breaking Old Patterns: Psychodynamic Frameworks For Self-Coaching
6. Remapping The Mind: Cognitive Approaches To Self Coaching
7. Learning New Patterns: Behavioral Approaches To Self-Coaching
8. Coaching Your Trading Business
9. Lessons From Trading Professionals: Resources And Perspectives On Self Coaching
10 Looking For The Edge: Finding Historical Patterns In Markets
The thrust of the book is that no one else is going to help you out, so you better get used to doing it all for yourself. This is the idea of 'self coaching' where you do have to take on two roles: trader and coach.
It helps to take on a different persona for the coach, as you will be asking yourself plenty of questions "Mike, why did you put on that trade - did you check the set-up with your plan?" That sort of thing.
Another constant feature is that change is absolutely necessary and very hard to do without succumbing to relapse. Say it with me "RELAPSE IS THE ENEMY OF CHANGE!". Luckily Dr. Brett devotes much of the book to the techniques for change and there are plenty of options, so you are likely to find a few that work for you.
Another benefit of the book is that you can read a lesson and the associated task in a short break from trading. This is wonderful. If you have let yourself down, got into some negative self talk, etc. just reach for the book and apply the relevant lesson. This has the effect of immediately becoming objective about the issue at hand.
A biggy for the Dr is the importance of journaling your thoughts, feelings, what's going on in your life outside trading. Why? Because on review patterns emerge - good and bad - and it is from those that areas to be work on become clear.
So how has it helped me, and here my thought about the first three lessons which should give you a taste.
Lesson 1: Overcome relapse by setting goals with emotional force. Use fear to deliver that emotional punch, what are the consequences of NOT sticking with the change I am working on.
For example I was working on letting my trades run to profit target, I used to pull them early. So I had written down and stuck to the wall behind my monitor:
I WILL LET MY TRADES RUN TO TARGET OR ELSE I WILL NOT ACHIEVE THE REWARDS MY WELL DEVELOPED SYSTEM CAN PROVIDE ME WITH. ALL THAT HARD WORK AND PATIENCE WILL BE UNDONE.
Lesson 2: How visible is you trading coach. (remember it's you!). Review your journal and make a tally of positive comments and negative comments. If comments are phrased negatively ask why are you being so hard on yourself. You first need a positive relationship with your coach to make any progress at all.
Lesson 3: Make friends with your weakness. This is a beauty and I have integrated it into my trade cards. Note down any errors you make on trades and put a $value on them. See if there is a pattern there? Add up the cost of each error type and make a target for the next week/month to make a reduction in that particular error. This is no different to a company tracking its returned products, warranty claims etc. Errors are unavoidable - nobody is perfect but we can work on getting closer to it!
.
