Positive Emotions To Harness
They're Your Friends
Congrats, you made it through Negative Emotions; time to turn to the “good ones” to manifest. Chances are you exhibit most of not all of these and consider yourself to be a “natural”. Remember, “it’s all between your ears”; there’s always additional room for improvement. So here we go and thanks for taking the time to listen to the following YouTube video and more so reading this dissertation. Maybe read it a couple times as this stuff is important.
Positive Emotions
Now that you have read about a few of more common emotional problems that have a tendency to arise, let's take a closer look at the more desirable qualities most seasoned investors and traders exhibit. Everyone is different so don't think you need to possess all of what's follows. You’re probably not starting from scratch so learning how to best position yourself in your career is essential. It helps to love what you're doing as well. If you naturally possess a couple of these qualities listed below you are well on your way to becoming a successful investor or trader.
Commitment
Commitment refers to the state of being dedicated and devoted to something like a goal, relationship or belief. It is the act of binding oneself to an established course of action, the willingness to invest the time, energy and resources necessary to achieve a particular outcome. Commitment is manifested in different ways such as:
● Professional Commitment: A dedication to one's work and career, it’s often characterized by a strong work ethic, reliability and a willingness to invest time and energy into professional development.
● Relationship Commitment: A dedication to a romantic, personal relationship, characterized by loyalty, trust and a willingness to invest time and energy into the relationship.
● Personal Commitment: A dedication to personal goals and values, often characterized by self-discipline, perseverance coupled with a willingness to invest time and energy into personal growth and development.
Commitment is important because it gives direction and purpose to our actions, it helps us to stay focused and motivated while allowing us to achieve our goals and build deeper and stronger relationships. Commitment is difficult at times but essential for achieving satisfaction and success in life. Remember that commitment should not come at the expense of one's well-being; be sure the goals or relationships one is committing to is healthy and aligns with one's values and life goals.
Commitment is essentially dedication on steroids. Once you’ve determined that you want to do anything in life the next step is committing yourself to the actual task at hand. In the case of learning how to invest or trade the task is multifaceted. So in addition to assessing "how things are going" your commitment includes the actual understanding of how extraneous factors filter in. When it comes to actual trading and investing, you need to focus, exclude the distractions from the outside world, your outside world in particular. When the markets are open, a good investor or trader is completely focused, concentrating on the markets. Remember, everything else must take "second" place, until after the markets close.
Introspection
Introspection is the process of looking inward and examining one's own thoughts, feelings and experiences. It's a method of self-reflection and self-examination that allows individuals to gain insight into their own mental and emotional processes. Introspection takes many forms such as:
● Reflection: Reflecting on past experiences and memories
● Analysis: Analyzing thoughts and emotions in the present moment
● Examination: Examining one's values, beliefs and motivations
● Exploring: Exploring one's inner self to understand one's identity
Introspection can be achieved through techniques such as journaling, meditation, self-reflection and therapy. Introspection's goal is gaining a greater self-awareness and understanding. Introspection leads to personal growth, self-improvement and an understanding of what makes you tick. Introspection is also used to identify negative thought patterns, emotions and behaviors hindering personal growth. In this way it can help one to deal with certain mental health issues like depression, anxiety and stress. Introspection also helps to improve your relationships, decision-making and overall well-being.
Introspection, the examination, the continual observation of one's own mental and emotional processes is a key to success in life. It’s critical when it comes to learning how to invest and trade. You must continually reassess all strengths and weaknesses. Don’t ever worry about competing with others. This is the time to measure up to your own standards. Compete with yourself; the rest will take care of itself.
Self Control & Heightened Awareness
Self-control refers to the ability to regulate one's thoughts, emotions and behaviors in order to achieve a desired outcome or goal. It involves the inherent ability to resist impulses, delay gratification and to make conscious, deliberate decisions.
Heightened awareness, known as mindfulness, is the process of paying attention to one's thoughts, feelings and physical sensations in the present moment. Heightened awareness is the ability to observe oneself without judgment or reactivity while being aware of one's surroundings.
Self-control and heightened awareness are related and very important for personal growth and well-being. Self-control allows individuals to resist impulses while making conscious choices; heightened awareness allows individuals to critically observe, in real-time, their thoughts, emotions and behaviors without judgment.
Self-control and heightened awareness can be developed through practices such as meditation, yoga and mindfulness. These practices help individuals to become more aware of their thoughts, emotions and physical sensations and develop their ability to regulate them. These activities employ what’s known as cognitive behavioral therapy which helps individuals to identify and change their negative thought patterns, their behaviors to benefit and develop self-control. Self-control and heightened awareness help individuals make better decisions, manage stress and improve relationships. It can also help to build resilience, emotional intelligence and overall well-being.
More than likely you've heard someone say "he doesn't have a clue" or "she doesn't know what she's doing". Often these types of observations come when someone is "out of control", out of their league operating in a way they are totally unfamiliar with. Self-control is important when it comes to most anything but when it comes to investing and trading it is essential. Possessing a heightened awareness, reacting with equanimity are traits you want to regularly exhibit. Having a total mental calmness, composure and most importantly, an evenness of temper in difficult situations, are important to learning how to become a better investor or trader.
Neither losses nor profits excite successful investors or traders. Excitement more often comes from just sticking to your plan and executing it. If you can control yourself and your emotions you’re more likely to be successful. Developing, sticking to then constantly reviewing your work in order to refine your plan is time consuming but essential in becoming the best damn investor or trader you can be.
Realistic
Being realistic means having a clear, accurate understanding of a situation, problem or goal along with having expectations based on that understanding. It means being objective, unbiased, taking facts into consideration, their constraints and potential challenges that may affect the outcome. Being realistic means being aware of the difference between what one wants to happen versus what is likely to happen.
Being realistic is often contrasted with having unrealistic expectations that often lead to disappointment and frustration. An unrealistic expectation is believing that one will never have any problems or difficulties in life. A realistic expectation is to accept that problems and difficulties are a normal part of life and being prepared to face them is beneficial.
Being realistic also means being able to adjust one's expectations and goals when circumstances change. It means being able to “adapt” to new information, changing circumstances and new challenges. Being realistic is critical as it allows individuals to make informed decisions, set achievable goals and better manage expectations. It helps avoid disappointment and frustration allowing individuals to focus on what they can do to achieve their goals and be successful. Additionally, stress is reduced and overall well-being is enhanced. Being realistic isn’t “flashy”; consistency, sticking to your trading plan is.
Thinking that every investment or trade you make is either "going to the moon" or "heading to zero" is perhaps the worst way to act. I'm sure you’ve read or heard both the "stories of glory" as well as the many "doom and gloom" scenarios broadcasted on whatever social media thread you follow. My first question is "why are you reading this crap" followed shortly with "do you really believe their remarks". Being realistic then remaining realistic creates success. Remember, bears and bulls make money; pigs get slaughtered.
Realistically, few investors or traders are ever beneficiaries of such events. You have a greater chance of being struck by lightning or winning the lottery. Set achievable and realistic goals. Irrational choices seeking windfalls fail and usually come back to bite you. You have no personal control over the markets; losses are inevitable, in fact they are expected and should be planned for but not those that wipe you out. If this is how you intend to operate it's more certain to happen and quite frankly you shouldn’t be here. A casino is a far better place for you to spend your time, at least there you can drink for free.
Patience
Being patient refers to one’s ability to wait or delay gratification without becoming frustrated or agitated. It’s one's ability to tolerate frustration, delay and uncertainty without giving up or becoming angry. It also means being able to persist in the face of obstacles and setbacks. It is an important trait because it allows individuals to be more resilient and persistent in achieving their goals. Patience helps individuals to be more understanding and accepting of others as well as managing their emotions and reactions in difficult situations.
Patience can be developed through such practices as meditation, mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy. These practices assist individuals in becoming more aware of their thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. It allows for people to develop the ability to regulate and refine themselves. Additionally, techniques like setting realistic goals then prioritizing them are beneficial in developing patience. Having patience can help individuals to be more successful in achieving their goals, improving relationships and building resilience. It can also help individuals to have a more positive outlook on life while increasing their overall well-being. It’s pretty good for investors and traders to be patient, especially position traders like me who do not trade often.
Perhaps the most difficult emotion to control for new investors and traders is being patient. If you are a beginner, investing and trading for the first time, right now, at this very instant you are exhibiting patience. As we've said many times and will do so throughout our courses, learning how to invest and trade anything is a marathon, not a sprint.
I am blessed with 55+ years of experience and learn something every day; quite often it’s from you. Instant gratification is rarely achieved and is not something you should ever expect or prepare for. Patience, in any environment or scenario, is important. Do not chase investments, trades or market movements. Realize that there will always be another trade. In this way you'll defeat FOMO, the fear of missing out.
Not having a position is a position and it's a good one as you can't get hurt. Closing out a profitable trade before its “time” is similar but not nearly as disastrous as just taking a position. A profitable position may go higher, maybe not, remember you'll never go broke taking a profit. Patience must be one of the most important tools in your plan. Over time you’ll realize how critical it is; include it from the beginning.
Adaptable
Being adaptable is an important trait because it allows individuals to navigate and succeed in an ever changing and uncertain environment. It can also help individuals to be more resilient and to recover more quickly from setbacks and failures. Being adaptable does not mean being indecisive or too easily swayed; it means being able to be flexible and to be able to adjust one's approach when circumstances change. It also means being open to new ideas, perspectives and ways of doing things.
Adaptability can be developed through practices such as learning new skills, being open to new experiences and being willing to take risks. It can also be developed by learning to think creatively and critically and by being willing to experiment and to try new approaches. Techniques like goal setting, planning, prioritizing are helpful in developing adaptability. Being adaptable helps individuals to be more successful in achieving their goals, improve their relationships and build resilience. It can also help individuals to develop a more positive outlook on life and to enhance their overall well-being.
In 1972 David Bowie released "Changes'' and its lyrics have stuck with me since. Remember at the age of 17, I had been trading for about four years. So the words “every time I thought I had it made it seemed the taste was not so sweet" and "time may change me but I can't change time" had significant meaning to me. Tools and simple information flow fifty years ago centered around printed media, nightly news broadcasts and if you were lucky the “Dow Jones” news ticker. Granted, less is more as in today’s world, the plethora of information is vast but manageable. Follow what the “big boys” and masses review; it’s a good place to start.
Being able to adjust seamlessly to changing circumstances, the unexpected "out of nowhere" events, makes one better. The simple meaning of the word "adaptable" implies possessing the ability to adapt to new conditions. The first thing one needs to do is to understand the conditions affecting the current decisions you’re making. You need to understand what those inherent conditions are; hopefully you have identified the right ones. Then one needs to be aware of the market’s reaction to these changing events; like interest rate changes and geopolitical events, as they often alter all of the overall strategic rules. If you have a complete understanding of these interactions let me know and I'll award you a "Medal of Adaptability" then I’ll probably hire you to manage my money. Adapting to change is hard; regularly observe what’s transpiring in the real world, read everything you can and above all listen; as they say you have “two ears and one mouth”; try to listen twice as much as you speak.
Responsible
Responsibility means being accountable for one's actions and decisions and taking ownership of all consequences. It involves being dependable, reliable and making sure to fulfill one's obligations and commitments. It includes making decisions that are ethical and moral, behaving in a manner that aligns with one's own values and principles. It is an important aspect of personal character and is essential for building trust and credibility in relationships and interactions with others.
If there is one thing that turns me off to investors or traders it's their failure to take responsibility for their own actions, inactions or decisions. If this is how you are going to operate you may as well hire a money manager so at least you'll have a real basis for blaming someone else for their mistakes. Remember however, intuitively you decided to hire this money manager so in essence it's still your fault; no matter how hard you try you just can't avoid responsibility.
Hopefully when you make a move you've done your homework. As you have decided to be responsible for embarking on a pathway to learn how to invest or trade, you also remain responsible for performing your own due diligence. Deciding to "go long" or "go short" it's you and only you who click that button to execute that move. You can’t blame others for your own decisions. You own your shortcomings. The risk you take in exchange for the possibility of an appropriate reward is yours; own it.
Creative Thinking
Creative thinking refers to the ability to come up with new and original thoughts and ideas. It involves looking at problems and situations from a different perspective and considering a variety of solutions. Creative thinking also involves being open-minded and willing to take risks while thinking "outside of the box". It is a key component in problem-solving, innovation and developing new products, services and ideas. It's a cognitive process that involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a new way. Generally speaking, creative thinking is an important, almost essential quality to possess, for personal growth, professional development and the advancement of society.
There's no better trait than "thinking outside of the box". Observing better ways to do anything, especially when related to investing or trading, be it technical, execution related or even research oriented, is impressive. Remember I started trading more than 50+ years ago. To trade an option contract, one side of the transaction actually had to find its counterpart. Today it's just a click and execution. But for the advent of electronic trading few of you would be here. Keep in mind however, unless you're planning to develop an algorithm housed and executed by a super computer or two, someone else is going to "hit that bid or ask" ahead of you. It's a fact of life; learn to live with it.
Your creativity is limitless when making contributions to what is your most important guideline; your plan. The better your research, data selection and above all your experience, the better you'll be as a investor or trader. It’s a great place to practice your “creative” capabilities. See beyond the obvious. Draw ideas from a wide variety of inputs and do not be afraid to do the unusual or unexpected; by all means don't ever stop learning.
Self Confidence
Self-confidence refers to the belief in one's abilities, qualities and judgment. It is the actual feeling of trust in one's own abilities, qualities and judgment that separates the winners from losers. It is the opposite of self-doubt allowing individuals to trust their own abilities; to feel capable of achieving their goals. Self-confidence enables people to take risks and to strive for success without being held back by a fear of failure. It is important to note that self-confidence fluctuates; be affected by different factors such as past experiences, feedback and comparison with others. Self-confidence is a key aspect of mental well-being, helping people to build resilience and pursue their goals while enjoying a greater sense of personal fulfillment.
Without having self confidence regardless of what you are trying to accomplish, the likelihood of success is minimized. Always question yourself; if you do not think you can do what you are attempting to do, ask yourself why am I doing it. When it comes to investing or trading, believe you will succeed; do not let losses diminish that belief and when in doubt, something that happens to everyone, take a break, step aside then reassess your objectives. Have the faith in yourself to find that missing piece to your investing or trading puzzle. You'll soon discover what all successful people recognize; past failures cannot be erased; do not dwell on them, tomorrow is just a better day and waiting for you to find it as long as you learn from your mistakes.
Self confidence is the single most important facet of not just investing or trading, it's basically important in everything you do. I consider self confidence one of the most important traits to develop in becoming the best damn futures investor or trader you can be. That is why I have dedicated an entire section to it that follows. Remember, what's between your ears is more important than any tool you'll use. Take the time to know yourself; it works.
There is no easy pathway to “easy” money, not here in learning how to invest or trade or anywhere else in life. Respect how difficult it is to invest or trade in these markets, put the time in and you'll do just fine; it’s a marathon, not a sprint and practicing every day is a pathway to becoming the best damn investor or trader you can be.
Hope you enjoyed this post. I’m just a young 68 years old; my Dad became a broker when I was 13. It’s time for me to ‘give back’ to all of you what’s in my head. It’s not always pretty but it’s based on history . . . and history, unchecked, repeats itself.
Everyone learns at their own pace. If you pick everything up the first time through, great but if not email me at david@thetickeredu.com so we can further help. Thanks again go out to Danny www.mrtopstep.com . . . check him out; he’s worth your “click” and thanks to all of you who have adopted what is being created and presented; we’re humbled by the response and referrals. Again, let me know what you want to learn, I’m all ears.
One of my favorite plays, movies ever, in part due to their respective casts but more so the point, albeit a little on the fraudulent, unethical side . . . “You Can Do It” . . . if you put in the time.