I looked up for "becoming emotionless" and this is all I've found. http://www.wikihow.com/Become-Emotionless Is there any books or articles anyone here could recommend that's more in depth just on this subject?
Sounds like the word you're looking for is "repression", which obviously is not the best route. It's a fine line between the proper release and retraining of negative emotions and repression. Top traders are not emotionless in any way.
Point taken. Just I find myself performing better on days where I'm kind of withdrawn, or numb from fear. Figured it might be worth looking into.
Possibly Steenbarger's new book on performance may address this although hes not really a strong believer in emotionless trading. In his previous book he did deal with the mindstates that we get into when trading and how to shift them so we can be more productive. Personally I think the problem with emotions isnt the emotion, its that you shift into a different state with a set of emotions/thoughts/actions that you wouldn't have if you were in the calm state that you apply when you review your trades and decide what you should have done. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79929 If you can't find the book then eagle's approach will at least have the advantage of feeling good.
I guess the best way for becoming emotionless is to operate a vendor business, like this one: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=79831
http://www.wikihow.com/Become-Emotionless: What it says sounds like the essence of what is written in various books and articles about this topic. I think the key is just doing it. Like Steenbarger says: It is not about education but about training. You have to do these exercises (mediation, observing yourself, breathing...) everyday until it becomes a habit and then a part of your personality.
Having no emotions is not the same as being disciplined and rational. Daniel Goleman's book on EQ is an interesting starting point to the topic. As far as I remember he describes people with no emotions (because of brain damage) and the consequences to their lives... quite scary.