When you can't help but compare

Hi guys! :blush: I’ve been reading through the threads and trading journals here, and I’m happy to see that it seems like a lot of people here are getting great results! :blush: Super happy for you guuuys! :smiley: But I’m back at a point where I can’t say the same thing for myself. :sweat_smile: HAHAHA I guess,I’m curious to know, how do you handle the impact of watching others succeed while you face losses in your trading? :sweat:

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hi, are you sure that you do everything what you can to achieve your goals?

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Hi,

Comparing your own actual results with those told by others on social media often leads to disappointment. The fact is that everyone pumps their own story up and rarely reports on their failures. I talk about my failures because I often find solutions in responses from others. And I have nothing to prove to anyone else except me.

None amongst us has a perfect record. We all suffer unintended consequences of our actions. We choose to label those consequences as “failures”. Whilst all of them are failures with hindsight of the outcomes, few of them are mistakes at the time we make those decisions.

I was once told that the difference between very successful people and those who almost always fail is that the former gets it right about 60% of the time whilst the latter gets it right about 40% of the time. But those with the poorest outcomes in life are those that sit in procrastination and choose not to make a choice, so do not participate in life. Whether that is declining an offer from a friend to go out to a party, a coffee, a walk, to see nature, to observe human activity, or to choose one side or another of a decision you know you need to make, it is those who choose not to make a decision who will have the most dull, boring, and uneventful lives.

I have a few “spiritual friends” made during this last year, and they are all advising me to “do the tasks that you feel like doing in preference to those you feel you must do”. Though it is hard to change the habits of a lifetime, I find it easier to listen to them, and am not unduly bothered by leaving other tasks till later. What sometimes feels counter-intuitive is the best for you. In my case, I am consciously trying to slow down the number of decisions I make each day. In other cases it would be appropriate to speed up the number of decisions you make each day.

As an indicator of whether I am improving or not, I lie with my eyes open in bed just before I go to sleep, asking myself am I relaxed or not? I slowly release tension in my muscles starting from my toes, ankles, legs and upwards to my crown chakra. If I am not asleep by the time I finish this relaxation exercise, I lie on my right hand side and repeat the process. More than 80% of the time I am at peace and sleep well. Try it.

If it makes you feel any better, my current “shootcoin” portfolio is 31% down since its inception March 2024. I am not disappointed because the basis of this portfolio is that I am comfortable if it falls to zero. Not happy, but comfortable.

I have recently completed the School of Pipsology, which I started in 2020 and got to about 60% completion, and then put it on the back burner. The reason I decided to finish it, and before that I finished the School of Crypto, is because I will shortly be in a position to add further funds to my crypto pursuits, and want to be very sure that the documented plans I made in 2021 are being adhered to. I will not put additional funds at risk until I am sure that I followed, and will continue to follow, the rules and processes I set up in 2021. If you like, it is a review of a couple of documents that have grown arms and legs, and become “untidy”. It is my intention to have a document of no more than ten sides of A4 words, tables and examples, that are a distillation of my 95+ page unwieldly trading plan. At the same time I will update the cheat sheets I use for set up, entry, management and exit of crypto trades, and when I am satisfied, I will once again return to Forex / Stock trades using the same templates.

This is a never ending quest, and I have all the time in the world.

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Totally get how you feel. It’s tough to see others succeed when you’re struggling :sweat_smile: I try to remind myself that everyone’s journey is different and focus on learning from my mistakes.

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Sounds wrong but my entire life came more under my control when I did a time management course at work.

The simple rules are well known
Do it
Dump it
Defer it
Delegate it

Urgent + Important stuff is done first.
Important stuff is done in a protected time block
Stuff which is not Important and not Urgent might just get dropped right out of the programme.

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find the trading strategy that is good for your. ea \ news \ long term \ crypto algo \ passive earning.

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My humble advice is not to trust anything you see online, journals or whatever, so there is no need to react to everything. Keep your head cool and keep trying.

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I suppose you mean only textbooks should be trusted?

I Think you need to find a perfect strategy that work with you and also always make assessment on your strategy and trading so that you can see clearly where you need to make adjustment.

Only solid documents are to be trusted, they must come with evidence of course or else why would I bother believe fake stuff online.

It’s tough, for sure, but I just focus on my own progress and keep learning. Taking breaks and staying positive help.

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Yes, of course this is true as far as it goes. We should only believe something is true when there is good evidence that it is true.

But whose evidence would you trust? And what sort of evidence?

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Depends on who I get it from, I would trust someone who I have been seeing here being giving out the best advices and constantly bringing up real technical points, and I think we can all tell if a document is authentic or not. I can write the perfect journal for you and post it here for all to believe, but I am not even a good trader :joy:

Indeed, in forex, I saw that many traders prefer to show off regardless of whether they are successful or not. But it’s true continuous losing will make a trader feel low but taking break from trades can help.

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Is it maybe more watching others claim to succeed?

In forums, so many people are successful, yet regulatory agencies (reporting to the governments that fund them) say that with forex trading fewer than 1% of the accounts they regulate are profitable long term. Whom to believe? The forum posters or the people with direct access to the evidence? Difficult question?

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@ria_rose, I can feel what is going through your mind.

It was difficult for me initially when I saw others succeeding, especially when social media was flooded with traders making record profits every day while I was in losses.

I reached out to my fellow traders/investors who told me that everyone’s journey is different.
The trader you are comparing yourself to may be an experienced trader while you are not, making comparisons pointless. So, instead of comparing yourself to others, focus on your own progress.

I took a step back and created a trading journal in which I started noting down everything (including the reason for buying and selling) related to a particular trade. This helped me introspect my trades and analyze what went wrong and what I could learn from it.

Use this experience to refine your strategy and improve your skills. Keep learning and moving forward, and your success will come in its own time.

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We’re all at different stages in our trading journeys. Don’t be too hard on yourself, and keep pushing forward. Your time will come! :blush:

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Thank you thank you soooo much everyone for your responses! :pray: It may be a “ME” issue :sweat_smile: but I’m happy to have this space where I’m comfortable sharing things and making mistakes! :blush: I’m just about to read through your responses and reply to them! Whether there may be some negative thoughts in there, I’m just grateful to all of you for sharing your opinions about this! :blush:

Hellooo! :blush: I do know that I have a lot of mishaps and that I’m lacking in a lot of aspects. :slight_smile: But, I’ll continue working on those since I don’t plan to quit trading anytime soon. :sweat_smile:

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Super thank you for the very reflective response, Mondeo! :blush: :pray: It served as a reminder for me (and I’m sure for the others who have read it as well), that at the end of the day, none of us are perfect and that most often, it’s our choices and failures that shape our lives. :blush:

Honestly, for most of the decisions I make, I struggle and stress over whether I made the right decisions or not. :sweat_smile: The same goes for my trading at times. So I had a point where I would rather sit back and watch the charts than open the trade myself. :sweat_smile:

Tbh, this is also a struggle. :open_mouth: It’s a shift that I guess, I need to try out. There are external pressures that I can’t help but give in to. :frowning:

Thanks for sharing this! :blush: I’ll also try this out for when I go to sleep tonight. :blush: I do need time for self-reflection (because I rarely do it these days). :sweat_smile:

Thank you for your openness about your shootcoin portfolio too! :open_mouth: I super appreciate you sharing your journey with us here and I guess this just goes to show how committed you are to personal growth and financial responsibility that’s not motivated by the desire to impress others. :pray:

Really, thank you soooo much for this, Mondeo! I always learn a lot from your responses, and I’m happy I also got to know more about your journey through this. :blush:

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