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The PandaWarrior Chronicles

  #1701 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
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one trade, pre planned exit, much to soon as it turns out but it worked exactly like what I had planned ahead of time....so perfectly executed trade....one and done....


Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
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  #1702 (permalink)
 
Auric's Avatar
 Auric 
Raleigh, NC
 
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Nice day! Do you kind my asking what was your setup and trigger on that trade? I'm assuming it has to do with the break above the congestion resistance there, but I'm not sure what the colored lines represent?

  #1703 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
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Auric View Post
Nice day! Do you kind my asking what was your setup and trigger on that trade? I'm assuming it has to do with the break above the congestion resistance there, but I'm not sure what the colored lines represent?

Those lines represent the 25, 50, and 75% retracement zones from the high and low of the day. They provide directional and bias filtering.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #1704 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
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Listening to Jim Rohn at the gym.....

He defines failure as this:

"Simple errors in judgement repeated every day"

And success as;

"Simple disciplines repeated every day".

Sounds alot like trading.

A personal philosophy is essential to success. What is my (your) personal philosophy about trading, life, etc?

Does my philosophy about trading preclude me being successful? Does it lay the framework for success or failure? Do I act in congruence with my philosophy or do I sabotage my own values?

In the old days, my philosophy was to do as little as possible to achieve an acceptable outcome....and nothing much happened that was good....then an early mentor told me I thought I was to good to dig ditches. I denied but inside I said I would never do that. Then I started a construction company....a small one. My partner and I did a lot of the work ourselves. We were good at it and we worked cheap....one day I found myself digging a ditch to lay some plumbing. I had one of those deja vu moments and I realized that digging a ditch was honorable work....and so I worked harder.

Eventually the construction company did pretty well. I carried the ditch digging mentality over to the next thing which was the mortgage business. I did well from the beginning and it only got better...for 15 years......and then I found myself back in the "I'm to good to dig ditches" mentality again.

This led to a series of errors in judgement as defined by Jim Rohn in the quote above. The result was disaster.

Fast forward to today. Rebuilding from nothing. Scraping money together to trade. Trying to figure out how to do the least amount of work in order to achieve an acceptable outcome. Once again, this has led to predictable unacceptable results.

Coming to the realization that I hate to put out exceptional effort to attain exceptional results is humbling and disappointing at the same time. I am now rebuilding that philosophy that says I am willing to dig the ditch and do the hard work to make it happen.

What does this look like in trading? For me, it means keeping up with my stats. It means defining things simply so I can process it in real time. It means doing the difficult and the unpleasant. That means taking the trade if the system says to take it, it means honoring stops and more importantly, my target zones and objectives. There are other things as well but each one has their own ditch to dig.....suffice to say, its all about the fundamentals. Do the basics well and greatness follows....like Jim Rohn says, exceptional people don't do exceptional things well, they do normal and mundane things exceptionally well over time.

Lately, I've resisted taking trades once I am up nicely. I am afraid of giving some back. I realize intellectually this is just part of trading and to implement an equity trail stop. But that seems difficult from an emotional standpoint. I want to maximize gain by passing on trades out of fear of loss and yet by refusing to take certain trades, I seriously inhibit my profitability.

I have three main setups. The A, B and C set ups. Each produces their own profit projections. I call them the PPPs or price pattern projections. The A set ups are the easiest to see and have the least probability of failure. I get 3-6 of these a day. If I win on the first two, its almost impossible for me to pull the trigger on the third one. Today that cost me $400 per contract. There is no reason not to take the trades....even the C trades if conditions warrant.

This then is failure, me committing a few errors in judgement every day. Each day I try to reduce error....but sometimes the error is not one of commission but one of omission. Omitting the trades I should take. I am getting better at not taking the bad trades but leaving out the good ones has become a failure of mine.

Going forward, I intend to reverse this error.....just take the trade. My risk is predetermined so why not give it a shot.

This then is the holy grail, reduce and as much as possible, eliminate errors in judgement.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #1705 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
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One error today. I chickened out on the first trade and closed at +20. It ran 60. Took the trades as they came. Then my computer froze up. Missed a nice long with no heat.....No worries on that one.....took a couple more as they presented. All BE.

No losers today.....but no larger wins either. Finished +33 ticks after commissions. Not to bad but there was a lot more to be had......I did not commit the error of not taking the trade when it presented. A successful day.

I've been thinking about my personal philosophy again. I've identified five stages I've been through.

1. My learned philosophy. My parents were great people but they lived in a world of scarcity. In other words, while we always had enough to live on mostly, I remember always being told, "we don't have enough for that". Simple enough but I learned there was not enough to go around.

2. Somewhere along the way, I discovered there is always more than enough. And I began to live that way. And sure enough, I always had more than enough....so much so that I gave away more per year than I used to make in a year.

3. Hard times came and I quickly reverted to the mentality of scarcity. And didn't realize I had done it. And worse, I lived that way for way to long.

4. I've been working the last few months on rearranging my thoughts to be those of a winner....but winners only win if they believe there is more than enough. And while the changing of my attitude has been positive, its also been hampered by my personal philosophy which laments there is not enough...regardless of whether or not I verbalized it, its what I thought and how I acted.

5. Today, I state verbally and in writing.....There is more than enough. This business is unlimited in its potential, the only limit is myself. I limit the size of my success. I limit the amount I can achieve each day. It is me.....and only me.

On a side note, my kid is learning the same things I did when I was her age. That there is sometimes not enough. That realization alone is enough to make me sick to my stomach and as is often the case, nothing changes until someone gets sick of the status quo and makes the necessary changes.

Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.
Small disciplines repeated every day equals success. Small disciplines repeated every day equals success.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #1706 (permalink)
 
AttitudeTrader's Avatar
 AttitudeTrader 
Dallas, TX, USA
 
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PandaWarrior View Post
I've been thinking about my personal philosophy again...

4. I've been working the last few months on rearranging my thoughts to be those of a winner....but winners only win if they believe there is more than enough. And while the changing of my attitude has been positive, its also been hampered by my personal philosophy which laments there is not enough...regardless of whether or not I verbalized it, its what I thought and how I acted.

5. Today, I state verbally and in writing.....There is more than enough. This business is unlimited in its potential, the only limit is myself. I limit the size of my success. I limit the amount I can achieve each day. It is me.....and only me.

On a side note, my kid is learning the same things I did when I was her age. That there is sometimes not enough. That realization alone is enough to make me sick to my stomach and as is often the case, nothing changes until someone gets sick of the status quo and makes the necessary changes.

Uncanny. I am so in the same place right now - especially today. Even with regard to my daughter too. She's older than yours (just graduated college), but I'm constantly telling her that she can be/do/have whatever she wants and not to let our current circumstances dictate what she thinks is possible or thinks she deserves. And yet I'm not providing a very good example of that right now.

As you've said, changing that thinking we've become habituated to is the key. It's amazing how difficult it can be sometimes though.

"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig

Great post.

-AT

"Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitude. It's having the right attitude that's hard." - Robert Pirsig
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  #1707 (permalink)
 jimjones26 
Tulsa OK
 
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I have been doing some more research on self-talk / affirmations and how it seems to work. If it were me I might rearrange the sentences you are using. For example;


Quoting 
I limit the size of my success.

What your actually feeding your subconscious mind with that statement is the idea that you want to limit your success. I think this the opposite of what your trying to accomplish. Perhaps this would be a better statement;


Quoting 
I am in the process of changing my thinking about success to that of abundance; there is more than enough for me, and as I continue to grow so does my success.

Just a suggestion I thought I would share. I have been working hard to craft better ideals that I can then direct my energy, attention and focus on. I have more to share if you are interested.

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  #1708 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
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jimjones26 View Post
I have been doing some more research on self-talk / affirmations and how it seems to work. If it were me I might rearrange the sentences you are using. For example;


What your actually feeding your subconscious mind with that statement is the idea that you want to limit your success. I think this the opposite of what your trying to accomplish. Perhaps this would be a better statement;



Just a suggestion I thought I would share. I have been working hard to craft better ideals that I can then direct my energy, attention and focus on. I have more to share if you are interested.

I 100% agree with you. I suppose I should have stated it like this:

In the past, I've been the limiting factor on my success.

It was a statement of fact regarding the past.

Now I am restructuring my self talk to simply become statements of abundance, statements of certainty, statements of success and increasing levels of skill and achievement.

It's something I used to do and fell away from it over time.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Started this thread
  #1709 (permalink)
 
Silver Dragon's Avatar
 Silver Dragon 
Cincinnati Ohio
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PandaWarrior View Post

5. Today, I state verbally and in writing.....There is more than enough. This business is unlimited in its potential, the only limit is myself. I limit the size of my success. I limit the amount I can achieve each day. It is me.....and only me.

Out of everything you have ever posted in this thread this is by far my favorite and by far your best. There is nothing else which can be said or added beyond this because at the end of the day it all comes back to this one statement; Its all you!!

Robert

nosce te ipsum

You make your own opportunities in life.
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  #1710 (permalink)
 
PandaWarrior's Avatar
 PandaWarrior 
In the heat
 
Experience: None
Posts: 3,165 since Mar 2010
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Thanks Received: 13,404


I find myself in the odd position of not having made any money this week and feeling good about it....well not that good but something happened to me this week. Something mental and emotional....

I can't really define it....but its in the category of something we all know at least a little bit about...

But first a story.....about health.

How many people do I (you) know that was unhealthy and obese and whose doctor was always telling them to eat right and exercise? But they never did....then suddenly the heart attack happens or they are diagnosed with cancer or some other equally frightening disease. Then it seems if they survive the initial attack or diagnosis, they get it together and turn their health around 180 degrees and live a long and healthy life.

I've always wondered why they just didn't eat right and exercise in the first place and avoid all the pain and suffering.

And now I think I've figured it out......its the motivation behind the required change.

Our whole lives we've heard it...take care of your health and fact is, some do. For me, anytime I would attempt to take care of my health, it was always out of FEAR of something terrible happening and I suspect that most of us would rather NOT take care of our health but we do it out of fear. Or we don't do it and still live in fear of what might happen and praying it never does. For me, fear is a poor and short lived motivator. It produces results that are difficult to achieve, nearly impossible to sustain and brings with it no satisfaction. Therefore the changes that results from fear based motivation easily dissipates. We feel guilty but not that guilty.

Fast forward to the present post heart attack situation. I'm not afraid to die. I know this sounds weird but I'm not. What I am afraid of is not seeing my kid grow up. There it is again, fear....but this time its different. Its a fear born out of love. Love of my kid and how desperately proud of her I am. How much I want to be part of her life for a very long time. How much I want to see her graduate from college and perhaps get married and have a family of her own. Love of my wife and how much I want to be with her, even on the days it seems like it would be best if we had never met.....even on those days I want to be with her....

Love is a much greater motivator than fear. Fear can last for a while but it always fades. Love lasts forever and people do things for love they would never do out of fear.

Pre heart attack, those emotions were still present, just not present on the surface of life each and every day. Then the attack happens, suddenly the realization this life really is just a breath away from being over at any moment in time sinks in. Those emotions rise to the surface of life and stay there. I suspect over time, they may fade but perhaps not. Life changing decisions made at times like these can last the remainder of ones life and sustain those emotions indefinitely.

Today, I find the motivation to change my health is constant and ever present. Every time I see my kid, its there. Every time I see coca cola, its there. Every time I don't feel like walking my prescribed distance its there. The motivation of love trumps all the other crap that tries to interfere.

Why doesn't this work prior to the attack? Because the realization of the brevity of life isn't front and foremost in our mind. The vitality of youth, the invincibility we feel carries over into middle age when intuitively we know its not true but we act like it is.

Then the wake up call comes. The call to action and we are no longer complacent. Love triumphs over complacency and we do what we must out of love and joy at seeing another day.

Segue to trading;

Why don't we make the changes we know we need to make? Why don't we do the things we KNOW to do? Why do we continue to act in our own self destructive behaviour patterns?

Answer: Because our motivation is wrong. We are greedy. We are fearful. We want to be right. We want bragging rights. We feel the need to conquer.

None of which are good motivators in the marketplace. Greed kills, fear paralyzes, the need to be right leads us down the path of folly, bragging rights turn into embarrassment, instead of conquering, we walk away defeated knowing victory is within reach.

Our motivation is wrong.

For me, my motivation is switching from wanting to be rich to wanting to be the provider and protector of my family as much as lies with my ability. My intention is to increase my ability over time so that my original motivation and my new motivation are congruent. That by becoming rich, I take care of my family in a more and more efficient, more loving, more joyful manner. Its not about lifestyle, it's about security. It's not about travel, it's about the depth of the experience and the memories it produces. Its not about the house, its about the life that's lived under its roof. Its not about the car, its about the journeys we can take in it. Together.

While money is not the end, it is the means to an end and therefore I MUST do what is necessary.....man up if you will and do what is right. Not right for my ego, or my greed or my fear or my need to win.....I must do what is right for my family. In that I am fulfilled. In that I find bragging rights. In that I find sufficiency.

So back to my mental and emotional change. I can't define it. But I've written about it. Perhaps in time I will identify it with some greater degree of accuracy.


There is more than enough.......

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci


Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
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