"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
The following 4 users say Thank You to Daytrader999 for this post:
There’s more wisdom here then meets the eye. You could make a fortune selling a book on this one concept. I’m looking forward to reading your progress.
In trading it is understanding the concept outlined in the two pages below:
Page 1
Page 2
Understand this and you have mentally grasped the game. But this is not an observation game! It is a game that needs to be played, albeit from your armchairs, but played it must be!
Even simpler: Don't lose more on a trade than you make on a trade.
Simple? Yes.
Easy? Yes. Err... No!
Read on...
The following 5 users say Thank You to iqgod for this post:
Definitely something to read and think about every single day before you enter the battlestation....
"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
The following 2 users say Thank You to Daytrader999 for this post:
After Perfectionism, I would like to point out the subtle trap of Consistency!!
Be consistent with your approach, habits and methods, but making widgets out of every market analysis and trying to robotically execute is a silent killer!!!
There are two aspects I battle daily... one that stokes my ego that says 'You have gone pro, baby' which sets up a sure sore losing trade as if to remind me.
The other is the always haunting Anxiety when entering or when in a trade.
Anxiety buster that I use daily (using a pen and paper):
I made money yesterday, but the day before I had five losing trades in a row.
All of them were ES longs in a raging bull market (yesterday the market traded both ways, this is about the day before), but all of them were stopped out.
But I am not proud of those five trades, I took them in 'wrong' places - I lost a little in each, so not an expensive lesson.
But many a time losers happen and there isn't anything I would have done differently in each of those trades - - they are variance' way of saying that the market is the market.
You need to be you.
Every trader is unique and different which is why there are so many varied methodologies making money.
Genuineness. Trade from the heart. (and once that happens there won't be emotional trading anymore)
Ah yes, you are right! I had composed the post thinking I had taken the trades correctly then on penning it down had realized I was in a tearing hurry!
Has that actually helped in trading? It would be really really interesting to gather data of cases based on these;
1. Married/partnered, with supportive spouse for trading
2. Single, with individual effort towards trading
3. Married/Partnered but spouse in the dark about trading (would be hard to achieve in live in relationship but doable if its just ones in a while stay overs)
I guess, something like correlation analysis would be real good here, sorry but my usually latent researcher is popping its head out atm.
The following user says Thank You to LastDino for this post:
So there is no 'conclusive' proof I can show you given my 'status' but I have noticed that the days I treat the market as a professional occupation i.e. a non-release, non-orgasmic, non-destination-consciousness and GIVE myself to trading instead of 'trying to suck its marrow dry into my coffers' attitude, I find a sense of balance that does not throw me into wild emotions during the trading hours and the balance continues beyond.
What you bring to the table from a 'passionate' state of wanting is very dissipative whereas without any needs and wants the game becomes much much much less stressful and a lot of fun.
Here it is important to state: This 'Fun' thing is not the gambling rush - in that rush (a kind of madness) you feel hollow somewhere and are trying to swoosh in that vaccum by the thrill of winning - here 'fun' refers to the ease at which you come to the market, go about your business and actually sing while trading!
Great posts with many very precious nuggets and words of wisdom....
Thanks for sharing them!
"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn
The following user says Thank You to Daytrader999 for this post:
I really hope people (and that includes me) take them to the heart - these are precious bits of information paid for by real knots in the stomach and real ulcers in the mouth. :-)
Credits: The last two nuggets (and the two that follow) are from 'Chaos Trading' by Bill Williams.
@Big Mike inspired me to post this poem - it's about a seemingly 'non-supportive spouse'. I thought I had lost it, but luckily it still was tucked in somewhere in my diary
I wrote this poem sometime in the lockdown, and though my wife did not offer support for trading (and equated it to gambling), she was eventually to point the way to the golden middle that came to me as 'balance'. I wrote this poem for her, even though there is no direct support - sometimes 'no support' can actually mean tonnes of silent support by offering discipline instead of pandering to and spoiling an 'already spoilt child'. When you have no excuses left to give her, and turn inwards, and find that your sense of balance was off and waiting inside you all the time :-) :
When I was
an incomplete person
From work I took a pause
To quickly earn a ransom
I took to trading
it seemed
a quick way of printing
Money in reams
I made a pile
Thousands by the hour
And my bile
Tasted my tongue, was sour
I did not mind
My deteriorating health
I was focused hook, sinker, and line
On wealth, wealth, wealth.
She warned me of a-change in Miss Market's style
Dangers of these easy riches without strife
And told me to look yonder
On this thing called life.
But, you know, as it always happens
I ignored her sage advice
But was disappearing, my confidence
And slowly lost most of my dimes.
I almost lost my mind
And though she wouldn't pet me
Her look was both stern and kind
And she gently stood beside me.
Many a time I ignored my duties
And spited her for working overtime...
But suddenly in her words, I could see beauty
Slowly but surely her words began to rhyme.
When I took it slowly
And focused on myself, my family for a while
I sensed how trading turned holy
And finally could take it in my stride.
Sometimes when your wisdom lights go out
Your spouse sometimes holds a candle
In the middle of your dark blackout
And it's a faint glimmer in a losing battle.
The light that shines
Illuminates
Deepest recesses of your mind
And liberates both you and your soulmate.
The easiest way for me to accept something is to offer that very thing to something bigger than myself - a concept, integrity, honor, love, anything but the limiting self!
Which means you accept RISK - And anyway, for a wise man, ignoring Risk is, well, risky!!
On another thread someone posted a statement that got me thinking:
When good traders trade well they feel good,
When great traders trade well they feel nothing.
Zen Koan
“The novice says to the master, ‘What does one do before enlightenment?’
‘Chop wood. Carry water,’ replies the master.
The novice asks, ‘What, then, does one do after enlightenment?’
‘Chop wood. Carry water.'”
Although it appears nothing has changed on the outside (doing), everything has changed on the inside (being).
On the surface, the visible, external actions of chopping wood and carrying water are the same before and after enlightenment. So, what’s changed?
The deeper invisible and internal—your presence, awareness, perception, mindset. Your body may be busy, but your mind is still. You are present instead of preoccupied.
And that makes all the difference.
And you are on your way to feeling nothing.
