One important thing to consider is the actual trading action and performance. It must be done without thinking i.e. unconscious competence, this is how successful traders perform but when you start out it is not going to be how you perform. Have a look at the Adult Learning Model (ALM) to help you determine where you, or anyone else reading this is located. There are 4 stages so check them for yourself using the attached picture.
What's vital to anyone learning to trade is they must keep their emotions in check. When I work with new traders I implore them to enjoy it. In other areas of work where I have trained people I always tell them to enjoy it and many look at me as if I am mad but when I explain why and as the session continues they start to understand why.
In trading you must enjoy it without getting too excited; it would take me too long to cover every area of why but trust me it works.
The main reason is that you will relax if you are enjoying it and that is vital to correct brain function. That is why you must have a passion about trading or sport or both. By that I mean you can love horse racing football etc or just be passionate about the actual trading itself. If you hate trading or sport then you need to be exceptional to succeed at trading. I am not saying it cannot be done without passion but it will be a harder learning path and the successful traders I know have or had a real passion. Some have since moved on due to BetUNFair's excellent customer service skills and diminishing fees.
So why must you enjoy it? Well it's quite simple really and once you read this I hope it will help you going forward. The brain is a powerful tool, no computer can match it. Sadly it is good at doing one thing only to a high level and other functions will suffer as a result. I suppose it is like a single core CPU in basic terms.
That is not a true description of the brain but I don't want to get into a neurological study as it isn't necessary.
Your brain has a hierarchy in terms of function. The top level is where all of the important functions are located, i.e. heart rate, balance, breathing etc. We all do those without thinking and that is why we call them unconscious competence functions. When we are born we have only two natural reflexes, the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises, everything else must be learned and when we learn them well enough to make them another unconscious competence, guess where it is stored? Yes, that's correct it is in the same area as high level functions like breathing, heart rate.
The next level for the brain is emotion, this is second in the hierarchy.......BUT if emotion takes over it will shut down the higher level brain function. It will not stop you breathing or your heart beating as that will happen normally but it will shut down thinking thus preventing you from making correct decisions.
When you get emotional, you will probably notice your breathing pattern changes, your pulse races, etc but you stay alive. However it seems like your head is a hazy cloud of mush and you feel confused. That's because your emotions have taken over and higher brain function is now a passenger waiting for the CPU to become available. It isn't going to become available until you bring emotion under control and get everything back to normal. You've heard the expression "pull yourself together" and while that is a correct statement it's useless once you've lost your head. The main thing to do is not to let emotion takeover in the first place. That sounds easy I can hear some of you saying but how do we do it? Well we go back to my first assertion, enjoy yourself!
If you enjoy your trading and relax it will allow you to use higher brain function which will in turn allow you to think better and learn more. It will also mean you can improve quicker as you will store data much easier. If you feel a mistake occurring, i.e. the price has moved against you, dump it and do not allow it to move into stress and the possibility of shutting down higher brain function. This is why people who over analyse things struggle to become successful traders, once they start the analysis process it tends to spiral out of control and this prevents higher brain function which in turns stops them from thinking correctly and the result is failure. You may have heard of the expression "paralysis by analysis" and now you know why it is so true.
So next time you sit down to trade, enjoy it and I guarantee you will perform at a higher level. I am not saying you will suddenly become successful but I am saying given enough time you will improve.
