MINDFULNESS

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lucysparabola said:
the most successful trader I've ever dealt with (and others like him, but less successful) have all had giant egos. But they seemed to know how to control them and redirect that energy towards further successful trading. You have to have balls of steel to bet successfully time and again.
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It's possible to be successful with a large ego. Depends on the quality of one's trading plan and whether or not one has the discipline to follow it. Absent either, or both, the ego not only interferes with success but prevents it. What others have or haven't done is not particularly relevant to one's own success.

I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again, because it cannot be overemphasized: the most important change in my trading career occurred when I learned to DIVORCE MY EGO FROM THE TRADE. Trading is a psychological game. Most people think that they're playing against the market, but the market doesn't care. You're really playing against yourself. You have to stop trying to will things to happen in order to prove that you're right. Listen only to what the market is telling you now. Forget what you thought it was telling you five minutes ago. The sole objective of trading is not to prove you're right, but to hear the cash register ring.

--Marty Schwartz
 
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lucysparabola said:
the most successful trader I've ever dealt with (and others like him, but less successful) have all had giant egos. But they seemed to know how to control them and redirect that energy towards further successful trading. You have to have balls of steel to bet successfully time and again.
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Agree. Nicely said.
 
damnpenguins said:
You mean in a polite educated civilised manner?! We can but hope.... ;)
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The Ignore function is only a stopgap. Most don't have the discipline to stick with it. Much like those who just have to slow down on the highway to see why those people pulled over onto the shoulder.
 
marketsurfer said:
That's sad, dude. You should be getting stronger & better as you age not falling into the same trap as the masses. surf
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yes, it is sad, and that's what you have to deal with. I love baseball, and every season it comes to an end. I am an avid horticulturalist, and every plant eventually comes to the end of it's season. Maybe that's why we like trees and grandchildren, because they outlive us and we never have to witness their death.

you could sum this whole thread up in dealing with the fear of death
 
when I was young, my trading account was 100% of my total net worth. Everyday was an emotional roller coaster. It was very important for me to prove to myself and my father in law that I was not just a commodity gambler.
 
now I can lose 100% of my trading account and it won't affect my lifestyle one iota, except I will no longer be able to afford cigarettes and beer, since that's about all I rely on from trading anymore. My fear is if I blow up, what will I do every day? I love trading, it's the reason I wake up and get out of bed.

and I do like cigarettes and beer
 
sometimes I fear God doesn't like it when I smoke and drink, so He will exact bad luck on me, because in His wisdom He knows that is the only way I will stop
 
I tried being an atheist, that may work when you have to work a real job like I did for nine years when I blew up my first account and patiently built up another trading account

but once I put on that first trade again I found I really needed Him
 
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