Mastering Fear is Mastering Yourself

[Rande Howell 10]

“The order of thinking that got you into the problem is not the order of thinking that will get you out of the problem.” Albert Einstein

 

Fear Hijacks Thinking and Destroys Trading

 

For the trader – the kind of thinking that got you into trading is not the thinking that will produce successful trading. That, successful and consistent trading, will require you to re-develop the way you think and perceive. And the first order of business is developing the capacity to manage the biology of fear. Until you do that, re-organizing your mind for peak performance trading is only a remote possibility.

 

Yet, traders chase that remote possibility as they look for the Holy Grail that will make their trading successful and their dreams a reality. They are blind to what is hidden in plain site – the Holy Grail of trading is within them. It is your fundamental beliefs about yourself that create the state of mind you trade from. And emotions are the window that you use to see what makes you tick and react the way you do WHILE UNDER STRESS.

 

A Mystery at the Trader’s Expo

 

Because fear based thinking is so discomforting, traders avoid looking at themselves to see how to improve the performance of their trading. I’ll give you an example of what I talking about. At the recent Trader’s Expo in Las Vegas, I “people watched” traders looking at my booth from a distance. Traders would have a look of bafflement on their faces as they pondered whether they should talk to a trader psychologist – a “shrink”. Some were curious because they knew they had a problem that were not solving well and wanted to explore how examining their psychology of performance could impact their trading.

 

These were the exception. Most, after being fearful of approaching, averted their eyes and went to talk to the really pretty females who were in the booths around us. Something about having to examine their psychology produced discomfort in them. And, instead of questioning such a reaction, they got sweep away by their avoidance.

 

Then, there were the trader education groups who teach methodology. They would look at my banners, fall into reflection for a moment, and then come to speak with me. Do you know what they said? Here it comes….

“A trader’s psychology is the number one problem that we have in teaching people to become successful traders. We can teach them methodology, but until they get their emotions under control and their mind right – they will not become successful traders. We know that 90% of trading is in the head. How can we work together to better train our clients?” Out of this breakdown for trader education groups came awesome possibilities to create alliances with them – which is well and good.

But back to the majority of traders who avoided a trader psychology booth because of the emotional discomfort it caused them. Based on the trader education groups that spoke to us about how few of their clients (the ones avoiding the trader psychology booth) currently are equipped with the “order of thinking” required to be successful traders, why do they avoid what they need to build a traders state of mind?

 

Biology of Fear Can Be Managed- if Acknowledged

 

Later in a Worry Management Workshop I gave at the Trader’s Expo, those brave traders who confronted their fear of coming to a trader psychology booth and sought to find out how to manage fear, learned why fear overwhelms dispassionate thinking and creates an emotional avalanche in trading. They also learned how to disrupt this fear and invoke a calm state of mind in the midst of the stressors in trading. And it was free.

 

Imagine. By allowing fear to hijack their thinking, which produced avoidance of my trader psychology booth and my speech, they missed out on the opportunity to learn how to manage their fear. Fear breeds more fear. They will go home wondering why it is their lot in life to continue their losing ways when a possible answer was staring them in the face, but they were too fearful to investigate.

 

And remember, it was not me that was saying it was their biggest problem. It was the very trader education groups teaching them how to trade – people who knew first hand – that made that observation.

 

Your Fear Teaches Where to Look

 

If you experience fear in you trading, the very fear will tell where to find the problem you need to solve. It is not in systems or methodology – it is your beliefs. Core beliefs do not like to be challenged and most avoid their psychological demons for a life time by placing the blame outside of the self. Others simply deny, avoid, or ignore self limiting beliefs they hold about themselves. Trading will not allow you to do that for long. In trading, your psychological demons will stalk you. You don’t have to go looking for them. They will find you.

 

If you plan on becoming a successful trader, I encourage you to invoke the courage to face and listen to your fear. It will cause psychological discomfort, but it will not kill you. And it will teach you where to look in your current psychological organization for the part of you that needs to be re-worked to create an effective state of mind for trading. And if you decide to do that, you will need to develop the skills that enable you to regulate the emotion so you can learn from it – rather than avoid the tiny discomfort that keeps you from achieving your potential.

 

If you would like to experience the presentation I gave at the Trader's Expo and test drive the Worry Management skills I taught at the Expo, go to my website and sign up for both free webinars.

 

Good trading

 

Rande Howell

[turboonostrilvision 10]

One of the simplest methods to overcame fear is do it automaticly or do it quick, no long term trades.

I wish I was able ever to overcome my fear in markets, in case I will not be able to do so learning the first option.

[4EverMaAT 10]

“The order of thinking that got you into the problem is not the order of thinking that will get you out of the problem.” Albert Einstein

 

Fear Hijacks Thinking and Destroys Trading

 

For the trader – the kind of thinking that got you into trading is not the thinking that will produce successful trading. That, successful and consistent trading, will require you to re-develop the way you think and perceive. And the first order of business is developing the capacity to manage the biology of fear. Until you do that, re-organizing your mind for peak performance trading is only a remote possibility.

 

Yet, traders chase that remote possibility as they look for the Holy Grail that will make their trading successful and their dreams a reality. They are blind to what is hidden in plain site – the Holy Grail of trading is within them. It is your fundamental beliefs about yourself that create the state of mind you trade from. And emotions are the window that you use to see what makes you tick and react the way you do WHILE UNDER STRESS.

 

A Mystery at the Trader’s Expo

 

Because fear based thinking is so discomforting, traders avoid looking at themselves to see how to improve the performance of their trading. I’ll give you an example of what I talking about. At the recent Trader’s Expo in Las Vegas, I “people watched” traders looking at my booth from a distance. Traders would have a look of bafflement on their faces as they pondered whether they should talk to a trader psychologist – a “shrink”. Some were curious because they knew they had a problem that were not solving well and wanted to explore how examining their psychology of performance could impact their trading.

 

These were the exception. Most, after being fearful of approaching, averted their eyes and went to talk to the really pretty females who were in the booths around us. Something about having to examine their psychology produced discomfort in them. And, instead of questioning such a reaction, they got sweep away by their avoidance.

 

Then, there were the trader education groups who teach methodology. They would look at my banners, fall into reflection for a moment, and then come to speak with me. Do you know what they said? Here it comes….

“A trader’s psychology is the number one problem that we have in teaching people to become successful traders. We can teach them methodology, but until they get their emotions under control and their mind right – they will not become successful traders. We know that 90% of trading is in the head. How can we work together to better train our clients?” Out of this breakdown for trader education groups came awesome possibilities to create alliances with them – which is well and good.

But back to the majority of traders who avoided a trader psychology booth because of the emotional discomfort it caused them. Based on the trader education groups that spoke to us about how few of their clients (the ones avoiding the trader psychology booth) currently are equipped with the “order of thinking” required to be successful traders, why do they avoid what they need to build a traders state of mind?

 

Biology of Fear Can Be Managed- if Acknowledged

 

Later in a Worry Management Workshop I gave at the Trader’s Expo, those brave traders who confronted their fear of coming to a trader psychology booth and sought to find out how to manage fear, learned why fear overwhelms dispassionate thinking and creates an emotional avalanche in trading. They also learned how to disrupt this fear and invoke a calm state of mind in the midst of the stressors in trading. And it was free.

 

Imagine. By allowing fear to hijack their thinking, which produced avoidance of my trader psychology booth and my speech, they missed out on the opportunity to learn how to manage their fear. Fear breeds more fear. They will go home wondering why it is their lot in life to continue their losing ways when a possible answer was staring them in the face, but they were too fearful to investigate.

 

And remember, it was not me that was saying it was their biggest problem. It was the very trader education groups teaching them how to trade – people who knew first hand – that made that observation.

 

Your Fear Teaches Where to Look

 

If you experience fear in you trading, the very fear will tell where to find the problem you need to solve. It is not in systems or methodology – it is your beliefs. Core beliefs do not like to be challenged and most avoid their psychological demons for a life time by placing the blame outside of the self. Others simply deny, avoid, or ignore self limiting beliefs they hold about themselves. Trading will not allow you to do that for long. In trading, your psychological demons will stalk you. You don’t have to go looking for them. They will find you.

 

If you plan on becoming a successful trader, I encourage you to invoke the courage to face and listen to your fear. It will cause psychological discomfort, but it will not kill you. And it will teach you where to look in your current psychological organization for the part of you that needs to be re-worked to create an effective state of mind for trading. And if you decide to do that, you will need to develop the skills that enable you to regulate the emotion so you can learn from it – rather than avoid the tiny discomfort that keeps you from achieving your potential.

 

If you would like to experience the presentation I gave at the Trader's Expo and test drive the Worry Management skills I taught at the Expo, go to my website and sign up for both free webinars.

 

Good trading

 

Rande Howell

 

There are those who don't know they are not free. Not much you can do to help someone, until the discomfort of not knowing what's true gets to a point where you.

 

We often go to other humans for help, but most everyone is in the same relative position: self-rejection. The central problem with trying to describe the truth is that the truth just "is". No words can describe it; it must ultimately be experienced. But we'll twist our brains around point of view, preferences, and other egoic stall tactics that boldly and subtly seduce us into agreement. After all, the truth is not exciting (for some people). It's exciting for me, especially when you see the possibilities of it.

 

The funny thing about the law of attraction is in fact that we pick our leaders and we get what we want. I always recommend "the 4 agreements" and eventually the trilogy written by Don Miguel Ruiz as one of the best systems to remove what is not true in our lives, and especially in our trading. The more we remove what is not true, the closer to "the truth" we become. Easy to follow through, and you can see the results for yourself. If you need some type of intermediary or 3rd party to interpret what you see, that's a sure sign of delusion. That doesn't mean you cannot solicit 3rd party advice, which can assist you in finding your own way.. But self-mastery is about making choices and being responsible for those choices, not trying to blame others the second your choices don't work out as planned. Being skeptical, but learning to listen.

 

One of the simplest methods to overcame fear is do it automaticly or do it quick, no long term trades.

I wish I was able ever to overcome my fear in markets, in case I will not be able to do so learning the first option.

I suppose if it works, then go for it. You acknoledge that it exists (for you) so that is the first step. You actually took it a step further by figuring out how to deal with it to your benefit.

[4EverMaAT 10]

There are those who don't know they are not free. Not much you can do to help someone, until the discomfort of not knowing what's true gets to a point where you.

 

I forgot to finish that thought. There are those who don't know they are not free. Not much you can do to help someone, until the discomfort of not knowing what's true gets to a point where they must want to help themselves. That's why playing the victim role is so ineffective in getting any tangable results. You must want to help yourself first, then someone else can extend their hand and you are open to receive assistance. You cannot give to someone else what you don't have for yourself. That is why your relationships with other people, the markets, etc can't work. You're not being honest with yourself and what you really want. And I mean completely honest, not the selective honesty that so many of us already practice daily.