When you discipline a child you can do either of two things: Ground / beat up / scream at the child whenever he does something wrong or explain it to him. While either approach seems to have its advantages and disadvantages, as well as depend heavily on the particular child, I find the explanatory approach fundamentally superior. In general, it takes more time, but it allows for one very important phenomenon: If the child understands the reasons why certain things are considered bad, he will be better able to make a determination as to whether the particular rule is still valid or outdated. For myself, I prefer to do these things slowly, which gives me the feeling of a more solid foundation. Plus, I can also filter out useless rules. For example, I used to lack the discipline to eat right, exercise, and make my home appear orderly. It turns out, nutrition and exercise are important, so after years of "rebellion", I am now very conscious about these things, but making a room look tidy is total BS. I have never left food sitting around, therefore I don't have bugs, rats, flesh eating bacteria, or any other kind of infestation in my home. But having a layer of all sorts of things covering the floor has simply proven to be the most efficient way of organization for me. Of course, there have to be compromises. I have arranged for aisles to enable my wife to use the premises. The one thing I am still working on is conditioning her not to touch any of my things, even if they seem worthless or disarranged. She doesn't seem to be sentient enough for the explanatory approach. After years of trying, she threw away a plastic pouch the other day which contained tiny sundew seeds I was preparing for germination. After this incident, I am considering alternatives, but it is more difficult than raising a child, because I can't just ground / beat up / scream at my wife. Well, technically I could, but it just doesn't seem appropriate. Any suggestions?
I write notes constantly and review them every day. My notepads are among the most important bits of the equipment on my desk... Kind regards Natalie
The Scientist, Do you have any recommendations on good electronic notetakers/recorders. How much do they cost? Thanks.
When I was still pulling myself together, I found it helpful to make lists of everything I was doing wrong, then tick each infraction every time I did it. I then re-arranged the infractions from those most often committed to those least often committed and focused on those which I had the most trouble with. Even though a particular bad habit might work its way back to the top of the list several times, eventually it was no longer a problem, such as trading chop, or chasing the price.
One of the things that I do is to explain every trade to someone else who is trading the identical thing. Chats are useful for this, or trading with a buddy. This way with 2 eyes looking at it there are less mistakes. And since you have to explain why you are taking the trade, it makes you examine it more closely before you click it.
My issue is pretty much trade management. All the money I make or give away is a function of one simple but not yet conditioned thing regarding my trading: holding it to the precise stop. I make money, however I have begun to take the difference between my actual stops on losing trades and the predetermined stop, and the results are amazing. If I plan to risk 100.00 on a trade and my closing winner is 600.00, sticking to the 100.00 risk, every time, in the last 2 weeks, would have netted 400 to 800.00 more per day. Very seldom does one of my trades that is near 100.00 stop ever turn out to be a winner in a forseeable timeframe. I read a trader's quote that said something like (paraphrasing) "Don't claim to be disciplined if you are not disciplined in every trader, 100% of the time." I need to develop a conditioning system for practicing this. Something like visualization, but either I am not doing it effectively or this mental rehersal just doesn't work in trading. I was able to use it effectively in sports, so I am confounded by why its not working in trading, yet. My first impression is that I am just not committed to doing stuff like this outside of trading, or that it just doesn't work. That is, not committed enough i suppose. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to condition oneself OUTSIDE of actual trading? Thanks
Play poker successfully over the long run (I like texas hold'em). You need alot of discipline for that. You've gotta fold most of the hands you get. You have to seperate yourself from the money you have in front of you. It's great training for trading stocks.
First and foremost... great post and excellent thread, Brother acrary... Personally, what works for me when I start losing motivation or discipline is to ask myself: "Why do I have to do this?" "What's significant about this that I'm about to do... pushing myself" Re-visiting the time you plan this out helps. Another is not to think and just do. I usually have a few seconds of temptations before I start losing discipline... when I start feeling weak, I just don't think and do. Anger helps then... I'm like: "Ahhh... I'm tired, I drank too much last night... I should maybe take a day off... .... .... ASDGJLAHSRTO T$LKADSF !!!!! ... ... ... h!_p#($y^taksldhglakh sdb nqlw$uy%ASD08B ANLSDIFHBV OAN8EWYTG VNL LFK;HQW8OH B98Q2H4 OAOISDFHP128945 LASDKF JKZN .... ... .... I'M A DAMN TRADER! " something like that.