Simple? Of course not! All of Brett's sayings are easy face value, but to implement change on a consistent basis? Ha!
As I write this, my win rate on the day time frame is not profitable. And it's basically been stuck like this for awhile with no improvement. Since, as Brett writes "Our thoughts are the filters between trading and trader", I'm hoping to unlock this stalemate in my mind. After all, how is it possible to want to change my win rate so bad, and be utterly unable to do so?
Brett then goes on to mention how many times we respond in exaggerated ways to markets, not because there is anything unusual going on, but because a set of negative thoughts have intruded into our performance. This is me in a nutshell. A losing trade, or series of losing trades takes me from market focus to self focus. All I can do is wallow in emotional outbursts. And my anxiety has nothing to do with the market, whatsoever. And to react like this, is clearly a script from my past. I was very abused and hurt as a child. So, to me, losing trades are not just losing trades with a valid purpose. For me, with my scripts, a losing trade can be personal. Then I'm out of my zone since I'm thinking about myself, and being a victim -- instead of market patterns.
A very virtuous circle. But so cool to be fully conscious of it.
Now here is another Brett gem. "Many trader's problems show up in how they handle opportunity, not loss. True, for every trade that I've been dead wrong on structure and taken a stop, there are just as many trades that I MISSED out on due to psychological anxiety.
While cool and calm, I can rationally listen to the market, free of bias, or emotional compromise But introduce worries into the equation and now "I've allowed the viewing to affect the doing. I'm no longer absorbed in the market; my focus is gone. I'm responding to my own uncertainties and insecurities".
So how do I stay in the zone? Free to see the market?
1) Identify my triggers. Anything that gets me to think about how well or poorly I'm doing while I'm doing it is a trigger that can nudge me out of the zone. Being conscious of these is key for me. Learn to treat them just like a noisy plane flying overhead -- noisy but not relevant Most of the time for me it's frustration over a losing trade, or perfectionist thinking.
As Brett re-frames it: "It's not the thoughts of performance that take you away from your focus, but your identification with those thoughts". This is an important distinction. I always experience distracting thoughts and anxiety but it's when I IDENTIFY with them and give them POWER, then they become my focus. And then I'm not listening to the market anymore and lost at sea.
"Negative thoughts are inevitable: the question is whether I buy into them".
Brett then discusses meditation techniques such as guided imagery. I also like how he says that instead of avoiding negative thoughts, bring them into your mind as your own, inner trash-talking -- and then visualize yourself taking out the garbage.
This is how I become an observer to the unwanted thoughts, rather than to identify with them. As soon as I observe something about myself, I immediately introduce an element of psychological distance. Thanks again, Brett!
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