Practical reworking of the subconscious is an especially interesting area of the topic imho. When you talk about the "heat seeking missile" effect and I talk about internal alignment, we are really talking about the same thing--the synergy that comes with being totally motivated to seek one's goal on all levels. But how does one best communicate with the subconscious? What is the best way to 'program' the subconscious effectively for minimal self-sabotage and maximum alignment towards goals? There are a lot of metaphors for the subconscious: inner child, secret self, loyal servant, dumb but powerful computer, etc. I've found it most useful to think of my subconscious as a physical structure, like a building. Except in this case, the structure is inside my head, made up of electrical patterns and neuron pathways rather than steel or concrete. When you create larger goals for yourself or expand your hierarchy of knowledge and internalized worldview, you add to this subconscious structure. When existing beliefs or patterns of habit are destroyed, parts of the existing structure are destroyed. This is where the work comes in. If your new deeply held goal is to make a million dollars, that goal has to be effectively built into your subconscious structure. If it only stays in your conscious mind, it will remain superficial. But when you start building the "addition," you run into problems--this new piece of the structure conflicts with existing ones: Love of quality time with family. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of hard work. Questions of morality in regards to excessive wealth. And so on. There is physical work required in tearing down the old elements and building the new ones up. Dismantling one's pride and ego, for example, may amount to blowing up half the edifice with TNT. And constructing the new requires patience, time and heavy lifting as well. You have to find a logical way to make the additions "fit," which could take a significant amount of reworking and creativity. If you jury-rig it, the structure will be flimsy / unstable and will not hold up in a storm. A structure powerful enough to facilitate stunning long term results must be anchored in many different areas: personal honesty, self worth, self purpose, life goals, relationship balance, philosophical beliefs, and so on. As well as a builder, one must be a skillful architect to achieve the extraordinary. This is more than abstract for me personally--I have had to conduct major, major renovations on my internal structure over the years, in service to my evolving goals. (Seems like there is always hammering and sawing going on.) Which leads to other useful questions: are you willing to pour a new foundation if necessary? Is your desire strong enough to root out every misconception, face every weakness, and perhaps even change who you are? Can desire for something frivolous, like a certain quantity of money, ever be powerful enough to fuel that kind of change motivation in the first place? Or must one go deeper?
The theory of radical constructivism is interesting in itself however I wonder what praxis would look like ins astep by step basis. Is is something similar to hypnosis? Do we need physical stimulus to rewire our subconscious? How exactly do we eliminate destructive trading habits? Would step one possibly be a new routine which requires me to state my trading goals to another person everday before trading? "I want to trade my system exactly as I designed it." How do I get to this and what steps should I take? Is this what was in mind with RC?
Apart from goal setting, Kiev says to practice (again using meditation and imagery) relaxation in a stressful environment. We've all been there when something goes wrong. Your stop gets blown, your line goes dead, you mistype and buy instead of sell or enter 100,000 instead of 10,000... At those moments you need a calm, calculated reaction. Otherwise you may compound the situation through an increased emotional response. Everyone says 99% of trading is emotions. But how many do something about it? Here is a specific technique that addresses it. The aim of all this is to become a millionaire, to become a successful person, to become great trader, etc... Might seem like the same old 'positive thinking' rap yet its profoundly different because you are programming your mind towards a specific state and goal. This sets your subconscious mind to seek anything and everything that would achieve your goal. And to reject anything and everything that would hinder it. So when done this way it (whatever the goal) is not just a frivolous desire, but a part of you. A new you. If you don't incorporate it into your self, then it remains a frivolous desire and attaining it is a crapshoot.
Not to be flip, but in my opinion this emotion myth is so prevalent it deserves its own name. Call it the Tony Robbins Fallacy. How many professional disciplines out there can be dominated through emotional mastery alone? When you hear about someone who had the passion to become a great golfer / tennis player / movie director / venture capitalist / brain surgeon etc. etc. etc., their internal motivation was always coupled with long years of devotion to the craft (and natural talent to boot). Trading and real estate are the only disciplines I can think of where people entertain the idea that success is wholly dependent on psychological principles rather than experience, talent and dedication. Maybe add poker to this mix as well. Perhaps people are more susceptible to the "99% emotions" argument when applied to abstract disciplines where the majority of activity is mental. They fail to grasp the physical reality of mental structures above and beyond the emotional component. We understand that a surgeon needs many years of training, an athlete many years of physical conditioning and muscle memory; yet with trading we conveniently forget the cost of the inputs required, or we intentionally suspend belief in the hope of success. And self help gurus happily cultivate and prey on this suspended belief. People also forget that professionals are primarily focused on the mental game because they have already mastered the technical details beyond question. Tiger Woods can talk about how his game is 90% mental because he already spent three quarters of his life mastering the mechanics. For a pro, psychology is the last mile, not the bulk of the journey. Not trying to hijack your thread, in fact this will probably be my last post on it. I think it really is a great topic and goal setting really is extremely useful and powerful when approached correctly. It just has to be coupled with a commitment to embrace reality, a willingness to count the true cost, and a flexibility of path choice that few want to contemplate. Realistic goal setting is an exhilarating and often frightening exercise, because the truly big goals force you to go deep into the nooks and crannies of your inner self.. to make life choices that can never be taken back. Motivational gurus who overlook the deeper requirements of realistic goal setting can do more harm than good in my opinion. Like bad algebra teachers sowing the seeds of math phobia, ungrounded optimism can lead to long term frustration and disillusionment, increasing the ultimate urge to rationalize failure or quit. Do it right, though, and the results can indeed be amazing. Hence the value of the topic. I'll shut up now...
darkhorse, I agree. What I would add is that a superior mental state will get you the technical knowledge and skill much faster and more efficiently than without. My point in saying the 99% 'rule' is that even if you give a great trading system or strategy to someone, that does not guarantee results because w/o the proper positive mind set or psychology (whatever you want to label it) they will mess it up. Yet the person without any strategy and zero knowledge but with the right psychological makeup will set out to seek the knowledge and implement it successfully. Hope that's clear.
"Dr. Kiev says to set a goal and visualize it." I don't know what horsesh*t feed this is but its been around for a long long time. Visualize your desired goal or success, sure. For losers thats called day dreaming. For winners in the making, yes, its powerful and gives rich color to your motivation. But know the market you play back to front and upside down; then visualize your success because only then will your knowledge and capabilities make your imagined success come true.
What ever happened to good old phenomenology? As for Kiev, I read several of his books, and its true, if you focus youll achieve goals. For example, right now I dont have access to a trading account. Instead Im focused on a trading system that quantifies past returns, gives my trading grounding for risk, at the trade level, portfolio level, etc. You get a better education sitting back and learning about the markets than from the markets themselves, because the markets arent there to educate you in the sense that you need a certain level of skill to successfully trade. Anyways, what Im getting at is that I think I found a happy medium in my life situation whereby I can learn to become profitable in a short period of time, and then tackle the markets much more prepared, and some of this focus may have been the rubbing off of kievs books.
There is a great presentation by Kiev at: http://www.clicklive.com/NYMEX/symposium_2003/ Search for Kiev on the page... It is interesting to hear Kiev describe goal setting and imagery as a means of 'reducing stress'. There are several other good presentations on this site as well. Has anyone seen other presentations by Kiev on the web? Thanks!
Yes, that's the link that started all of this. I'd also like to know if there is anything else out there by Kiev. So far I've only found his interview at RealWorldTrading with Goodboy.