Great thread Ken!
Spent a few hours watching the videos over at MikeWs thread.
Hope some of you at least watched the movies last weekend… Anyway I have been thinking about some of the ideas presented on those two films plus the information in the PDF as well as Tony Robbins u-tubes. We all have desires to achieve something that we currently are not or don’t have. But there are those out there they have have already arrived to where we want to be.
The visualization methods described in the Stress Free Trading PDF. Is something I feel few will even try and fewer will attempt long enough to affect any emotional change in their thinking. It is easy to get fired up and think way this is what I am missing the feeling that I am a success already. But laying in that bed trying to see yourself rich and famous is hard to do for any length of time. Not that we don't want to . But may be just a struggle.
So I thought about what other ways can we start to shift our inner feelings to those of ourselves being successful and arriving. In The Secret the recommended test driving that car, house hunting. Doing anything to help you to get the FEELING of already acquiring your goal. So as someone that wants to be a success in the financial world how can we start to move towards that goal. Even if we don't have a bunch of money to look like we are rich.
When we were younger most of us if not all took on character traits of others to either fit on or act like we were something we weren't. This is something we can use to our advantage even today. Find places in your area where people of influence hangout. Maybe a luxury hotel or nice bar/pub. Then from time to time go to those places and hangout as if your there to give a lecture on the art of trading or meeting someone to celebrate your wins of the week. When you do exceed your goals take a draw from your account and celebrate doesn't have to be elaborate but believable for you.
If your celebrations are a few buddies and a six pack do that. But also ask yourself is that what your goal is ? Sitting around drinking pints with the boys. Better yet go to one of those nice places you don't hangout at. Dress up in the style you want to become accustomed too and buy a stranger a drink or two or share a bottle of champagne price dependent on your win. Talk about how you did so well in your trading that week and your celebrating . If your not having the wins yet go sit in the lobby and look over a trading book you like and your trading notes. But start acting like the person you want to be.
This in itself can be life altering it can bring you in contact with new friends and people of influence that could better your life. It can make you a more personable person if you have always been a bit timid might bring you out of your shell. That great thing about doing this is no one knows you there. You can be anyone you want to be for a hour or two.
We can do this for anything. If you always wanted to be a skydiver go hangout at the local skydiving center. Own a yacht hangout at the marinas. Whatever you want to achieve just start believing you have already achieved it.
You hear about this all the time someone was a con artist and took advantage of someone pretending to be someone they weren't. But on the other hand the place to get the best advise would be from those that have already done it. People love to talk about how they succeeded what their strategies were and what they had to overcome. If we can feed off those successful people's experiences that they are so willing to share. Why wouldn't we. Then when it is your turn there is no better satisfaction than helping the next person.
I have always been able to do this myself I have no inhibitions when it comes to relating to others. I am not any less because of my income than the next person. In most cases I have better life experiences than almost anyone I talk to. Because I am a risk taker and always look to change my own life. You also are a very interesting person and people want to talk to you about your trading. Then as they get to know you about everything else.
If your lonely go hangout with groups of people that are doing things your interested in yourself. Then you at least know your have that in common. Want to travel in a rv. Then go hangout at the nearest rv park. Most have activities and things to do. It just goes to show there isn't any limit to how you can use this to affect change in your life.
Every time we are at a corner we have a choice left ,right or straight. We don't have to drive home from work the same way everyday. Get lost occasionally and have a minor adventure from time to time. It always amazes me the lack of knowledge people have about where they live because they have never gotten off the main roads. Our lives are no different. We can play it safe and arrive intact and comfortable or we can take some risk and arrive with if nothing else tales to tale. I would rather sit in my rocking chair thinking of what I tried instead of why didn't I.
So keep visualizing and threw in a bit of play acting to further your cause and enjoy your life no matter what you think it is what you make of it. One way or the other. But to not try is not a option that would be a crime against yourself. The worst type of crime self inflected.I have been doing some study on self improvement as you know if you read this thread much. It is strange how you have read the same thing over and over from different sources but it just takes a while for you to get it.
I have heard again and again that you need to set a goal. daily weekly and greater. To know that your achieving what your after. I can only take at face value that these are successful traders making this recomandations as that is what they are writing. I realy hadn’t thought about it to much till the other day. It accured to me that yes I can see where this can have a effect possiblly.
I don’t know what other peoples goals are. But believe most would be happy with 10 or 20 precent a week. A solid 10 would be awesome as a starting point. So if you want 10% a week and you trade $1 per thousand in equity. You want 100 pips over 5 days or 20 pips a day. How can we not get that, would almost have to try to fail.
If you have a paper on your desk with a dollar amount of your goal at the top and then for every positive trade you subtract till you hit zero. You also add any negative or losing trades.
If you only want 20 pips a day you will start to really see how those bad trades are keeping you from your goals. A person just starting out trading needs to be profitable as this is something we can build on. But you can’t build anything on losing trades.
So be realastic to yourself as to how much you should make on a daily basis and write it down. Then watch how your trading is effecting your ablitiy to obtain that goal. In the PDF stress free trading the best line to remmeber is . Acting in Your Own Best Interest
If your looking for 20 pips a day how can you achieve that taking 30 pip losses. Look for better entries. Also this doesn’t mean you have to quit trading if you hit your goal. But if it is a true goal you wouldn’t mind either . My plan is to start risking 1/2 once my goal is reached with a preset loss limit. If I hit that loss limit done for the day and it isn’t very big . Basiclly one more trade at full value so I could maybe make 2 bad in a row.
I personally am looking for a bit over 20% a week. So my goal is 50 Pips.
As we all know that can be reached in a single trade on almost any day. Most of us can be up 30,40 or even 50 pips then give them all back. But once you start seeing this in black and white. I believe you will start to realize that just maybe you haven’t been .Acting in Your Own Best Interest
This is just a starting point plus a way to help us to get consistent. I think alot of up and down trading is due to not having this goal. yes maybe once when we become expert and it is like breathing to us. But till then the idea is to be positive in our account. I would stick to my goal for at least a few weeks or a month at a time before raisine it,
What do you think ??? Ken
My goal is 10% a month average. I want the range of results to stay within 5-15%. This requires a huge degree of consistency, so that is my main goal. Because I know that even modest gains, as long as they are consistent (no drawdown months), can be compounded into huge sums of money.
I don’t care if I can make 25% in one month if it costs me -15% some other month. Having consistent positive growth is more important than the actual number. I know now that I can’t form a goal around a number. I can’t control how much profit I make in a month, if any. That is so hard to accept!
All I can do is focus on making smart plays, incorporating all my experience and knowledge and not betraying what I know to be disciplined decisions. Chasing that number is what leads to bad calls. So when I say I want to make 10% average per month, I’m attempting that by working on my consistency. But if I start noticing that my average is starting to near 20%/month I will look to cut my risk per trade in HALF, because it is important to stay true to my goal. That is the reason I have a number set.
I think when traders start to define winning trades as “achieving my goal” and losing trades as “not achieving my goal” that they run into a dangerous gambler-like psychology. I think everytime you place a trade that is consistent with your method, that you are achieving your goal (win or lose). And if you are not achieving the profits you want, you will have to adjust your method, or your availability, or something! But you have to have the patience to take enough trades to get an AVERAGE. If you try a new method and have a losing trade, then deduce that the method is flawed, you could be passing over a good method that had a bad trade!
This is why trading is so hard, you have to have some level of blind faith in your system for a little while until you can get some tangible results. You could copy someone elses method, but sometimes there are parts of a method that cannot be explained or copied. You have to have the experience in your head, simply put.
I admit this kind of turned into me rambling, but I just wanted to get my ideas out in raw form. I hope there’s something that helps you out in there Ken Lee!
Thanks For your Insight akeakamai :
It just shows the different way we all see a thing. I have to agree with you at this point as I have never used a goal. But as such I have just started to wonder if I had a level to reach for that I was happy to achieve then stop if I wouldn't get that consistency you talk of.
I have total faith in my trading style and it has proven itself many times over. Always delivering the correct results off the correct analysis. I have always been the weak link and always wonder if that is true with others as well.
So I will try using a set goal differently not as a gauge of my systems abilities but as a trading regulator to maybe keep me more focused on being consistent and showing myself when it is ok to stop.
Just like your gambling reference knowing when to walk away is my idea of it's use. Yes A person should not have to use such ideas to control themselves but I have learned that maybe at times it is the additional structure we require to remind us my we are here to profit not just trade.
Hope your trading is deivering everything you want . Ken
PS. I will let everyone know how this has worked for me.
I think it’s more important that you don’t trade based on your earnings. This applies to when you have profits or losses.
If you are avoiding trades because you already have XX% for the month, then you are wasting perfectly good trading opportunities. Now if you want to take a break because you think the winning/losing streak is starting to erode your emotional state, then that is good judgement, don’t get me wrong.
good stuff kenneth.
I do understand and no I don’t plan on quiting trading I will just risk less to maintain my gains and then be building my equity…
Maybe a terrible idea. But it is something you read in almost every trading book. Also in the bussiness world you do nothing without a forecast or goal.
Just like everything else in life not everything is right for everybody. Same reason people trading the same system have opposite results.
But thanks for your comments. I will let you know how it does for me and how I am feeling about it right or wrong.
Thanks Ken
Not a terrible idea at all, risking less is a good strategy. It follows the same principles of why you scale out of trades as they go in your favour.
Not rambling at all!
Very wise words and sound advise.
Great thread.
Thank you for the links and pdfs.
Great thread Kenneth,
I am really impressed that over the years you can post such open and honest ideas, attempting to help everyone, not only become a better trader, but even the ability to better themselves…
Cheers
After reading the thread I’m on my way to the Library to check out the movies. Enjoyed the whole thread. Will check back in after the movies. Paul