one reaches their personal level of incompetence. unfortunately, in my situation, i think it is something way deeper. you still visiting philly ?? surfer
Agree 100% . I would like to add that I played sports for most of my life and have seen many failures and unfulfilled potential but it was mostly from overtraining before competition, bad peak timing, small injury, personal problems and such . I personally never have witnessed " fear of success " failure in athletic competition . Walter
Perhaps it is not success but fame. Becoming successful has no disadvantage by itself whereas becoming famous has many disadvantage for you can't have a normal private life, you will have to play the mondane invite people that you dislike for example and many other things . As for myself I don't want to become famous at any price, I like to do what I want, talk to true friends only and not do things or meet people by convention only.
I think my Dad did me a huge favor. When I was a teenager he said " the only thing you can do is get married, you are useless for anything else." Turned me into a feminist. Who decided to get her butt going and I have had several businesses. All successful. Now he tells me, "you will lose all your money daytrading" Guess how I am doing with that comment? Sometimes the negative expectations of one's parents can be turned around to an advantage. I'll show them!
This subject has gone on so long it has reproduced itself inside of me. I now have the fear of the fear of success. Or the fear that I will spend my weekend reading posts in this infinite thread.
Bobcathy, Hello again Bobcathy. Good to see your post. The way you turned it around with the parents was a good solution for you. For me it was just to realize some personal things in my relationship to my parents that I will not share on this thread. But it was not so simple to turn it around as you did...it was a deeper problem for me I think. You see I am 44 years old, and if not for my Wife and trading I may have never found myself. Competition or Fear have not been a big problem for me. We all get scared and one who does not admit their faults and weaknesses does not grow as quickly. But fearing success is REAL and many suffer from this subconscious desire to not succeed and do not know it. How about those times you were researching an entry???? found a fairly good setup...but passed it by....as you were looking for a better winrate....what were you looking for.....????? How many of us have done this?....If you research a lot, you must define what you can trade and what you expect. If you are unknowlingly passing by tradeable set ups unknowingly because of a confused identity and focus....by recognizing your psyche.....then this is another way to improve upon your trading. Most problems start from the beginning. Michael B.
Some EGo's might cause a new trader to identify his/her feelings to a competitive spirit...."I can do it" ...."I just will be stubborn, it will go MY way" even to a point of a contrary spirit to prove how good they are. Actually, I find some of the pro's rather "brutally" honest with themselves and others, which many confuse with being rude and obnoxious....quite to the contrary, they are real and have dealt with losing mentalities and with themselves. So even if they are hardcore.....believe me they have all gone through the mental stresses of trading. Some milestones are not met with the obvious for traders to improve. You can be great with math and your brains natural ability to remember patterns can be above average.....but trade it....feel it......experience it.....reflect and learn about yourself....then come back and talk about it.....The scared ones might blast you here publicly, but the one that are safe, secure and confident will understand. Thank you Girlpower for your thread. We should never forget about this stuff. If you are able to overcome emotion and think logically then granted this is an aspiring ability for a trader. But the road there can be long and choppy (not winding...were traders!). Michael B.
There have been many threads about fear of loss, about the psychology of trading, being in the right kind of mindset, fear of failure and any host of other things, but I wasn't sure anyone had ever considered this phenomenon at all, and reading about it made me really wonder what everyone would make of it. For my own part, I'm really not quite sure what to make of it, but I have seen it many times over personally, but moreso in others and not even realised that was it until reading that article. I think it is about consequences, about the unknown, and about change more than anything else. I do think it is very real for a very large number of people, but the most insidious of all and hardest to face, because we all buy into the dream of success whatever that may be. I don't know what is the cause, but I do know it can be beaten like any other fear or concern in trading. best Natalie
Best way to overcome fear of success, is replace it with a greater feeling of the "joy of success". Of course if you're secretly trying to fail, and do so; you have actually succeeded anyway!!