Pressure getting to me

[Korattt]

eightbo,

I've just taken approx a year out of trading & during that time I've studied hard, REALLY hard whilst trading on Practice mode now I'm back trading Pre Race part time whilst still in a full time job, just stick to what you're good at perhaps, gain confidence & go from there.

Best of luck, you're one of the most valuable contributors on here

Andy

[ShaunWhite]

I've found the mind tends to find a way when you give it no other option and similarly half-asses things when you know you've got a plan B to fall back on.

That depends on how palatable plan B is. When you have other people to house and feed then not having a plan B is wreckless. But if plan B means updating your CV then that can sharpen your approach to plan A rather than making plan B an OK fall back. I really wish you well, it's a tough stage. As you infer, necessity is indeed the mother of invention but pressure can be debilitating as well as motivating so I think it's important to know how you're going to feed everyone next month so you can free up your mind.

Others have mentioned modest targets and I'm personally a big fan of making those into a formal but very acheiveable project plan. eg This week I'll just watch, next week I'm allowed 5 trades a day and will try to break even, week after that I'll organise my notes and trade 20 handicaps to breakeven etc etc. Don't move on until a task is ticked.

To slightly misquote, The journey of a thousand miles is made of many steps so it's good to know where you are on that journey, or know 3 months ahead of time that you might be arriving a bit late and need to think about earning a few quid another way ....so that Plan A remains funded. Without a plan you can spend months wandering in the wilderness and then suddenly realise you've run out of provisions.

Usual load of old bollocks from me probably, but maybe some of it makes sense.

[eightbo]

Something I like to do is to set yourself a target to aim for, for example say you like gaming, set yourself the target of making £x (be reasonable) and when you achieve it reward yourself with a new game or something.

I found that when I had that target I would focus a lot more and trade better. Rather than having the general target of say being profitable.

Might be worth considering

I've got a list of 'rewards' in my journal which I look forward to getting but I discovered rewards didn't really address the psychological reasons where I would damage the account. Cautious to say it but think I've entered the conscious competence stage with my trading now and hopefully just a case of sticking to what I do well until it becomes automatic. Got a few issues to address still but definitely going in the right direction since I posted this (working smarter too).

Have been watching this video before each session recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8xD_hRiDyg
A little cheesy perhaps but relevant to me (same end-goal, overtrading, obsessing over short-term p&l) and keeps me in the right mindset: that I have time on my side and I don't need to rush my improvement.

[Kai]

Usual load of old bollocks from me probably, but maybe some of it makes sense.

I've always enjoyed hearing what more experienced traders have to say, I think their advice often gets overlooked by the younger generations. One of the key things for me was making sure that I always try to take their invaluable advice into account, it just doesn't make sense to not use their wealth of knowledge and experience.

I think it all depends on the personality, some personalities perform better under pressure and others without, so it goes without saying that it helps to know what kind of person you actually are, which you can find out naturally through the process of trading.

It's probably a crude analogy but in Football Manager every player has a hidden "Pressure" stat from 1 to 20 that tells you how well they perform under pressure. So knowing that stat, I know exactly what to say to my player during halftime to make them perform better, whether it's "no pressure, just play your game" or "I expect you to make the difference" etc. Another hidden stat in the game that can somewhat relate to trading is "Potential ability" that greatly varies from player to player, as harsh as it sounds some players in the game have their potential capped at a certain number and they will never improve past that point. I feel that every one of us traders has to try and make the most of his own potential no matter what it is, although it may not always be possible to do that for any number of reasons. I'm not suggesting that Eightbo has limited potential as a trader, quite the opposite, judging by one of his older videos that I recently saw I'd say he looks more like a wonderkid in FM terms.

Got a few issues to address still but definitely going in the right direction since I posted this (working smarter too).

That's great to hear, I always try to work smarter because it usually means that I don't have to work harder May sound like a joke but it's really not, my biggest problem was/is procrastination in general, although I do have some pockets of insane productivity when I both work hard and work smart on rare occasions, but I am very easily distracted by the more fun activities out there so naturally I lose focus. I've had to do quite a bit of self-growth and self-actualization once I realized that focus itself was actually the most important thing, and it turned out that focus was unfortunately my biggest weakness. Just like in trading, I've realized that in life I need to focus on the long term trend and ignore all the distracting noise around, if I want to achieve a good result in the end. It helped going to the extreme by withdrawing from social media and all the forums for a couple of years, ignoring my phone and in general identifying and eliminating all the random unnecessary time sinks from my everyday life. Since then I try to be the best version of myself, I already know that it is an impossible task and that I will never succeed in becoming the absolute best version, but it won't stop me from trying. Doesn't really help that I'm such a man-child but what can you do

[eightbo]

That's great to hear, I always try to work smarter

Fantastic analogy with Football Manager. Never played it but understood your point completely. Ghosting social media and a gaming hiatus were huge for my productivity also. I'm still on them but I've got notifications off and I only go on there when I need to get hold of someone.

Hungover today so instead of trading I got my thinking cap on and I think you'll enjoy what I've put together.

[doiti29]

You need to have steel nerves.

[rik]

how are you doing now eightbo, turned it around?

[Derek27]

He appears to have moved to the Czech Republic?

[Naffman]

He appears to have moved to the Czech Republic?

Was he always there?

But hope you're doing ok 8bo, whether you're trading or not!

[Derek27]

He appears to have moved to the Czech Republic?

Was he always there?

But hope you're doing ok 8bo, whether you're trading or not!

I recall his location was a town in the UK.

[Emmson]

He appears to have moved to the Czech Republic?

Was he always there?

But hope you're doing ok 8bo, whether you're trading or not!

I recall his location was a town in the UK.

Weston Super Mare/Bristol

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16429&p=153324&hili ... ol#p153324

[Derek27]

I wasn't going to mention Bristol in case he's in hiding but it's there now.

[Emmson]

The search engine on here works pretty well when hunting for info which is why newbies posting queries on here should be a bit more resourceful and use it.

[Naffman]

Was he always there?

But hope you're doing ok 8bo, whether you're trading or not!

I recall his location was a town in the UK.

Weston Super Mare/Bristol

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16429&p=153324&hili ... ol#p153324

Maybe came to the UK to trade but then went back home (CZE) when it didnt work out?

[wearthefoxhat]

I recall his location was a town in the UK.

Weston Super Mare/Bristol

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16429&p=153324&hili ... ol#p153324

Maybe came to the UK to trade but then went back home (CZE) when it didnt work out?

8bo is quite knowledgable. Appears the university education was a priority, with trading being an option. Can always return to it after a break with a fresh perspective.