Sunday, May 01, 2016

The Most Powerful Principle In Trading Psychology

Is there a change you would like to make in your trading?  In your trading psychology?  In your personal life?

If you're looking to improve yourself, to continually develop as a person, change will become your norm.  But how do we make changes, and why do so many of the changes we attempt never stick?

A powerful and radically different perspective on the change process is offered by the recent article on finding your solutions. It emphasizes that change is self-directed evolution.  This is a very important concept.

The mistake we make is that we perceive change as doing something new, something different.  That leads us to seek change outside of ourselves, through gurus or therapists or experts.  Indeed, would-be gurus and shrinks have every incentive to encourage that external focus.

If, however, we start from the premise that we are always making changes--some smaller, some greater--we can begin to learn from our own experience.  Change isn't something we need to initiate or motivate ourselves toward.  Change happens every day, in the subtle differences through which we develop ideas, make decisions, interact with people, and process information.  If we only notice, those subtle differences often make a difference.  When we are more effective, it's because we're doing something more effectively.  The change we desire is already occurring within us.

Once we realize that we are the source of our own solutions, we can become more intentional about the changes we make and more attentive to their outcomes.  In short, we can become better agents of our own evolution. 

Is frustration interfering with your trading decisions?  Look to those occasions when you don't experience frustration and identify what you're doing differently.  Scout for examples of times when you *are* frustrated, but manage to make good decisions.  How are you able to do that?  

Solutions are found in the exceptions to our problem patterns, not in trying to be someone we're not.  If there's a change you're looking to make, don't look to do wholly new and different things.  Look to do more of the change you're already enacting when problems aren't occurring.  In all of trading psychology, there is no more powerful principle.

Further Reading:  Putting Positive Psychology to Work For You
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