Empowering Stories

Trading is a very difficult job, not only because of the technical requirements but also because of the mental toughness and discipline it requires. In this article we will discuss the power of our beliefs and the stories we tell ourselves...and why we really need to let go!

1. Words of success or words of failure?

Your success, not only in trading but in anything important in life, will reflect the history of your life, unless you transform how you interpret the stories of your past. Very often, we end up going through life as if we are wearing glasses with a peculiar prescription. We view our current surroundings, our current life and whatever happens from day to day, through the eyes of our beliefs and not in an objective way. It's like the example of two teenagers that walk into a bar and look around before choosing a table. As they are looking, a table with 3 girls catches their attention. Suddenly, the girls start laughing and one happens to look towards one of the boys. At this point, the boys thing that they have something to do with the girls' laughter and are puzzled on what to do. 

The reality is that the girls were laughing because one of them spilt some coffee. The moral of the story is that we perceive the reality around us through the eyes of our beliefs. So it's best to have sturdy, encouraging and realistic beliefs. Your performance in trading is a mirror of your performance in life, which depends only on you. So let go of beliefs that aren't yours. Your thoughts (what you say to yourself day after day, what you say to yourself about your present being) shape the emotions you feel, and those emotions generate the behaviours that you practice, which generate the trading results you experience. Do you believe that you're a victim? Do you believe that life is tough and that you need to get lucky to escape? You will trade according to this belief...you will struggle and at the end you will not go very far. Vice-versa: do you believe you are a victor? Do you believe that life is uncertain but it is possible to make the best of every situation? You will trade according to this belief and certainly have less stress and better results.

So let go of the stories that you tell yourself about your past. Are you holding onto your stories? Remember that small minds are subdued by misfortune, while great minds rise above. Letting go of your stories means letting go of certainty and this loss of security can be initially discomforting (you can't explain why certain things happened anymore) but ultimately you are breaking free of these bounds. 

How to let go of the limiting beliefs and stories? 

1) Identify the level of pain and negativity that has resulted from your story 
2) identify the losses and blocks that the story gives you → it will make it easier for you to remove them. 
3) Replace “being right” with “being successful”. 
4) When your drive to succeed is strong enough, you can do it.  
5) Replace hopeful thinking with hard work. Hopeful thinkers take shortcuts, look for quick fixes, look for the holy grail, follow trading gurus. 

Ultimately they are not in control. Only hard work, intense preparation, adequate capitalization and mental toughness will bring you trading success.

To sum up: our results in trading, just like our results in life, depend on our perspective. If we have a flawed or contaminated perspective, then we will ultimately not see things objectively and we will not be able to trade well. We will not be able to cut losers, ride winners or see the obvious. 
Our perspective depends on our beliefs. And our beliefs stem from the stories we have told ourselves about our past endeavours. One of the best practices is to let go of any limiting beliefs and recognize that we are constantly changing and developing, day after day. So embrace change and progress, and start thinking like a victor and not like a victim.

Good Luck!

References:
1. You are now less dumb – David McRaney 
2. Trading on Target – Adrienne Toghraie