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Sinan Koray We looked at the Focus in Issue #80 of Trading Tutors. Let’s look at it again from a slightly different perspective. I will be asking you to do some writing as we go along. To get the best benefits, I suggest that you stop reading, complete the writing part and then resume.
Pick a person in your mind: someone close, someone far away. Write down five things that are wrong with them. You can pick on their looks, their behaviour, their attitudes, or their way of thinking. Pick someone else. Write five things that are wrong or bad about them. Look around the room you are in and find five things wrong with the room you are in. Next, find five things wrong with your trading. Lastly find five things wrong with you.
Did you do this? Or are you simply reading through? You can’t learn how to ride a bicycle by just reading a book. Sooner or later, you have to jump on the bicycle. Similarly you will get the full benefit of these exercises by putting pen to paper.
How long did this exercise take you?
Go back to the first person you picked. Write down five things that are right and good about them. You can write about their looks, their behaviour, their attitudes, or their way of thinking. Go to the second person. Write down five things that are right and good about them. Look around the room you are in, and find five things good and right about the room you are in. Next find five things good with your trading. Lastly find five things good about you.
Did you do this? Or are you simply reading through? Remember, there are no shortcuts to mastering your mind.
How long did the second portion of this exercise take you? Which portion was easier? Which one was hard going? Jack Canfiled, an author and public speaker, has done a survey on the messages young kids receive on a regular basis. An average American primary school kid hears thirty-two positive messages and four hundred and thirty-two negative messages each day, a ratio of 1 to 14. No wonder it is so much easier for us to focus on the negatives. This applies to your trading, your system, your trade selection, your money management, your psychology, your orders and your decisions. Unless you put the effort in yourself, you are going to be swept away by the pessimism of negative focus and negative messages.
One easy way to focus on the positive is to ask appropriate questions. What can I learn from this? How can I improve this the next time? What will I do different? How would a successful trader handle this situation? What is great about what just happened? Below is a list of more power questions you may want to ask yourself each day to keep yourself focused on the positive:
- What am I happy about in my trading now? What about that makes me happy? How does that make me feel?
- What am I excited about in my trading now? What about that makes me excited? How does that make me feel?
- What am I proud about in my trading now? What about that makes me proud? How does that make me feel?
- What am I grateful about in my trading now? What about that makes me grateful? How does that make me feel?
- What am I enjoying most in my trading right now? What about that do I enjoy? How does that make me feel?
- What am I committed to in my trading right now? What about that makes me committed? How does that make me feel?
- What have I given today? In what ways have I been a giver today?
- What did I learn in my trading today?
- What did I enjoy most in my trading today?
- What added meaning to my trading today?
- What am I thankful for today?
- What did I do well today?
Believe, achieve.
Sinan Koray
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