How Do Yall Maintain your Discipline??

jack hershey · May 23, 2003

Flash boy said:

I'm sure this has probably been covered before..

******You do not have a discipline problem.

My problem is I know what I'm supposed to do.. I have my rules.. they're not written down but are in my head.. and I know what type of trades I need to wait for.. I know what setups I need to trade..

*** Notice that you have no capital also. You do not have a plan either.

My problem is I keep taking trades that don't fit into my type of setup.. example. today in emini.. at 13:55 they had a fairly big down bar and I've been expecting a move down.. so I think that I don't want to miss this and I jump in short.. and I know when I do it that it doesn't fit my plan but I do it anyway.. self sabotage??

*****wooden shoes stuff is not where you are.

and this usually happens after a good day which I had yesterday.. yesterday I took 3 trades.. 2 winners, one loser.. and both winners were larger than the loser..

***recongize that you did not have a good day on 20May03.

Its just a matter of discipline and I know if I stick to my rules I will be profitable .. I'm just having problems doing so..

*** Your problem is not "being profitable"

Any suggestions appreciated..

****Stop trading and spinning your wheels.

You tell us you have rules and that you predict what is coming up. The denial that you are in is simplistic.

You strive for a % of the daily range as determined by 3 divided by the range. Some other guy here pulls down 20 points a week. At some point you better figure out where you are.

Three trades on the 20th, a loser at 13:55 on the 21st.

Here is the picture. A person who trades has to deal with the upper limit on the number of contracts he can run. He has this problem within a short time while of beginning to trade successfully. There is never any way around having to deal with this problem.

If you don't have the problem, you do not have a method of trading. You do not have a method of trading at this point.

nitro · May 23, 2003

Quote from Girlpower:

I keep a notepad beside me at all times and write raw notes of my thought processes through the day. Every trade whether taken or left on the table is noted, the entry, exit, and why and all the processes in between. Takes a moment to write it down. I even have a shorthand method of doing it and even then it can run to many pages during the day too.

The notes run through the whole day, and get reviewed every day. I can see exactly how effective I've been that day (never mind the profit/loss). Instantly it is clear whether I am with my strategy or against it. I can see where I have been sloppy, or just plain blind. yeah - I know 20/20 hindsight is wonderful, but learning from every day that goes by is important.

Natalie

This is an excellent idea.

nitro

Girlpower · May 24, 2003

Another thought.

If you have a simulator, you can sit down for a couple of days, and run through maybe 2 months of charts (speeded up), and call the trades and write down all the thought processes.

From this exercise you will quickly see where and how you are going wrong and where and how you are going right. OK - it's not the same as live, but a really good training exercise. I then compare the notes from going back over stuff in the simulator with the live notes already taken from those days, and try to learn as much as I can from it.

Natalie

nitro · May 24, 2003

Quote from Girlpower:

Another thought.

If you have a simulator, you can sit down for a couple of days, and run through maybe 2 months of charts (speeded up), and call the trades and write down all the thought processes.

From this exercise you will quickly see where and how you are going wrong and where and how you are going right. OK - it's not the same as live, but a really good training exercise. I then compare the notes from going back over stuff in the simulator with the live notes already taken from those days, and try to learn as much as I can from it.

Natalie

Another excellent idea.

nitro

Girlpower · May 24, 2003

Quote from nitro:

Another excellent idea.

nitro

Hi Nitro

Someone once said to me something very profound that has stuck with me for years.

"Good ideas are dime a dozen but people who make them work are priceless!"

After all this uncommon praise I wonder what am I setting myself up for here...? (I'm sure I'm going to regret this post!) :eek:

Natalie

trader99 · May 24, 2003

Quote from Girlpower:

Hi Nitro

Someone once said to me something very profound that has stuck with me for years.

"Good ideas are dime a dozen but people who make them work are priceless!"

After all this uncommon praise I wonder what am I setting myself up for here...? (I'm sure I'm going to regret this post!) :eek:

Natalie

Natalie,

I think you are right. Success in life is about applying a few simple and sometimes OK ideas(doesn't have to be that great or good even) correctly. And how does one do that? It requires discipline.

Like people on diet. They know they shouldn't eat bad stuff but they end up doing it anyhow. The recipe for good diets are simple. Eat moderately, exercie regularly. Self control. Same with people who try to quit smoking, drinking, procrastination, or a host of other vices.

Same in trading. Cut your losses. Ride your gains. Manage your money careful so you don't blow out. But how many people have the total self control to ALWAYS do that? Some people don't follow their rules. Let small losses become bigger losses until they become huge losses. Or they cut their winners short instead of riding it all the way. Or they bet too big. Instead of 1-3% bet they bet their ENTIRE wad. That's not trading. That's gambling.

It's easy to know what good ideas look like, it's HARDER to
execute them flawlessly/

I'm still struggling with it. Everyday I try hard to extinguish one of my trading vices. But sometimes they crept back. But luckily at a much much smaller scale to mitigate the damages.

Good points. You go Girlpower!

trader99

Girlpower · May 24, 2003

Quote from trader99:

Success in life is about applying a few simple and sometimes OK ideas(doesn't have to be that great or good even) correctly. And how does one do that? It requires discipline.

trader99

Hi Trader99

Which of course brings us straight back to the title of the thread - How Do Yall Maintain your Discipline??

Looks like a never ending circle along the lines of what came first the chicken or the egg... (The eternal conundrum)

Natalie

btw what did come first... :eek:

trader99 · May 24, 2003

Quote from Girlpower:

Hi Trader99

Which of course brings us straight back to the title of the thread - How Do Yall Maintain your Discipline??

Looks like a never ending circle along the lines of what came first the chicken or the egg... (The eternal conundrum)

Natalie

btw what did come first... :eek:

One way to maintain discipline is to play mind tricks to yourself. Motivate yourself to do certain things by reward and punish or whatever. There are many ways to coerce yourself into doing certain things. And after a while, it becomes a habit. Then the discipline becomes second nature.

Anyhow, to answer your questions about the chicken or egg. Well, you can say the same thing about humans. Which one came first: the baby or the mother? Because the mother was once a baby as well. Ad infinitum.

Well, if you believe in science, then it comes to some kind of protocell organism that evolved over time. So, it may not be the chicken or the egg. haha. It's so proto-chickenness.. hehe> Actually chicken came pretty late in the evolutionary ladder.

Any evolutionary biologist out there?

Girlpower · May 24, 2003

Quote from trader99:

Well, if you believe in science, then it comes to some kind of protocell organism that evolved over time. So, it may not be the chicken or the egg. haha. It's so proto-chickenness.. hehe> Actually chicken came pretty late in the evolutionary ladder.

Any evolutionary biologist out there?

I just knew you would come up with something like that...

LOL

Natalie

gwnorth · May 24, 2003

Actually in a National Geographic Special they stumbled across the question to which came first the chicken or the egg. It was actually cromagnum rooster. The biggest cock in the world according to one archeolgist. Thats what came first.