I find the whole set of rules, if one can call them like that, in a single file in TL: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/trading-psychology/3670-zen-art-poker-6.html#post53518
Not to side track you or anything, but have you given any thought about why you have fear issues? I've been meaning to finish my first journal entry here since you first suggested it, where I started to briefly discuss this, but since I just recently started to read Magee I thought it was worth bringing up here. At some part Magee rhetorically asks the reader whether it is possible that he is actually working on fixing superficial behaviours instead of investigating his premises and finding the root cause. I guess there are different strategies to overcome problems. The one you're hinting at is, I feel, a bit like faking it until you make it. And I'm a strong believer that strategies like that can help in all sort of avenues in life, because it can give you better confidence in the specific case and/or situation. But still - is your foundation strong enough, or have we not just faked a solution? So, for instance, in my case (even though nothing is all black and white), fear revolves primarily around how I view myself. For a long period of my life (all?) I've had my self worth strongly tied to my accomplishments, and therefore I fear to fail (want to be right). And it is here the the detachment process comes in - learning to let go.
(OK, so you had a couple of quotes from the Zen thread in a later post which I guess touches this topic.)
I do not have the slightest idea what I am afraid of, what I know is when I get afraid while trading. And I know that, because I can feel changes in my behavior and physical reactions, like sweaty hands and increased heart rate. That happens when I donât know what is going on, so my first order of business was to eliminate that ignorance. Once I am in the market again without the ignorance, it might not be the case or perhaps it might, I will only know then and I will let you know. After all you could be right. Thanks for posting.
I agree Niko. The fear comes from not knowing or being unsure of what is going on. I'm sure you can use other experiences in life where at first you may have had some fears or anxieties but with time those diminished. I believe they diminish from a gain in confidence and successful experiences. Now the question is what comes first shifting the mind set of knowing you can be and are whatever you want to be or the do the experiences lead to that gain in confidence/ lose of fear? I am a firm believer that your mindset, your words, your actions, and your thoughts all come first. I'd say stop saying you have fears don't even mention the word. Whether you say you have fears or you say you don't you are right. For me since I am not trading with real money at the moment what's to really fear? Practice and focus on being emotionally neutral through your sessions as well as focusing on whatever your trading plan is. It helps me to visualize. Visualize myself relaxed during the session and being successful and a lose doesn't mean I am unsuccessful. The world inside of you creates the world outside of you.
Take yer pick⦠and likely there are more The total uncertainty (mkt wise) Can I do this What if I canât really do this Will I exit, when a trade fails, and the loss still b/e.., or very small â every tradeâ¦, every timeâ¦, no exception What if⦠whatever Iâm doing to place profitable trades â quits working The enormity of it all I can only (and can I totally) rely on me â there is no safety net (nor at times do overs / just kidding's) The absolute and bare (many label it brutal) honesty ============= Btw â this is one (and likely the only) craft where you canât fake it We can go an entire life bullshitting others⦠bullshitting even our self Oneâs PnL is never fooled ============= Aside I still remember my first trades - the most horrified I've ever been Heart palpitating Palms sweaty Stomach in knots (literally felt like puking) Ahh good times One does get acclimated - or would that be jaded... thick skinned... no longer gives a flyin fuck Learn to let go Niko... and keep every loss b/e / small - every trade..., every time...., no exception Mkt can't fuck with you then.... and your belief in your abilities / ability to act (trade) in your own best interest will sky rocket RN
Learning to let go. Being detached from the outcome. This always makes me coming back to pondering the child. The magical child. The one who has no preconceptions of success and failure. Nothing to prove to anyone - not even herself. Just being curious for curiosity's sake. (Which I guess is one reason why Db is so keen on stating the importance of the non-committed observation phase.)
Thanks to a very simple but insigthful exercise that RN suggested months ago I arrived to the conclusion that it was ignorance the source of fear. In that respect I had to alternatives, keep adding to my market tuition until I got it right out of bumps and bruises. Or just do the homework required to understand what is happening in the markets at all times, and by all times I mean at all times. Hence the requirement to be able to read behavior, not patterns. That is where I am at the moment, thanks for your journal, some aha moments have come from it. BTW I am currently trying to emulate you, so I am in observation as well. As I said in the chat in order to focus I draw an P&F manually, at first I was doing it with the 1 min chart as info source, but now I am using the T&S and the experience was just mind blowing, I felt like Livermore writing in the chalkboard when he was a kid . (Perhaps not, but it felt differently, I did not see price as a line or a bar, but I imagined deals being closed at different price levels, I saw when a price level was not of interest for the traders and few trades closed at those levels and when the dominant crowd just couldn't get better prices and had to yield control to their counterparts. I will keep doing that. I cant post my charts, as they are in a notebook .