Why oh why can't I stick to my plan ?

Discussion in 'Psychology' started by cicsman, Apr 18, 2006.

  1. Atlantic

    Atlantic

    http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...8&highlight=miserable+AND+redneck#post1012958
     
    #41     Apr 19, 2006
  2. ================

    Helpful points about mr.Curtis Faith & his turtle plan;
    however one could have an excellant plan perhaps with less than 100 typed & illustrated pages.

    Like simply doing enough research to condense an important sentence into 2 words, 1 symbol;
    Trend=friend

    :cool:

    And could write dozens of detailed pages pages , subsets on trend ;
    Like much of last week & last 20 days [to use a turtle #];
    trends were down , =better selling up gaps.[YM,DIA,ES,SPY]
    ,
    Trend=friend;
    yesterday weekly & 20 day trend is now up. Too bad that doesnt mean much to some traders,
    Up gaps are now part of up trend, can sell , but usually NOT same profit :p
     
    #42     Apr 19, 2006
  3. Grob109,

    Your demented Grobian drivel reminds me of the writings of a paranoid schizophrenic. I hope you're well.

    Why did you post that attachment? Are you saying it's somehow useful?

    Here's an excerpt: "The trader connects to the internet through his data provider. This is also done on a contractual basis and represents an ongoing expense. Attendant to this he may use internet consultant services for specific trading projects. "

    Compare that to Curtis Faith's Turtle Trading Rules. Do you see and understand the difference?

     
    #43     Apr 19, 2006
  4. Again, I hope you're well. Really.


     
    #44     Apr 19, 2006
  5. #45     Apr 19, 2006
  6. Yes it is useful.

    A trader goes through an iterative refinement of his skills, knowledge which he gains, primarily through experience.

    Becoming wealthy happens at differing rates for different people.

    An appendix found in the same handout mentioned previously defines 8 different themes and categories of how and where improvement takes place.

    Each of these impacts a persons effectiveness and efficiency. The scope and bounds of each includes the financial impact that each makes. A first order measure is that a doubling can result from each.

    As you read through each thing I post for the benefit of anyone, you get to see and conclude that this stuff is not your cup of tea because of a variety of reasons that you go through the process of choosing. Currently, you are using an experiment as the basis of your comparisons. I am not. My approach is a longer duration one and one based upon a process of learning from the market and sharing responsibilities with the market. It is not an experiment per se. Currently my emphasis is on idiot proofing an approach so it can be adopted and used by a remote audience.

    I feel that the more people who consider the substantive content and the multimedia delivery system, the better all issues related to transference can be handled.

    you ask some questions that are important to you. To whit:

    1. Why did you post that attachment?

    It was a response to the faults you found in my post to cicsman. You suggested that I did not support my views with any specific help. You also made a couple of comments on my character and my behavior.

    So I responded with substantive content in the form of an outline to scope and bound the plan opportunity cicsman is currently facing or not facing. Within the outline there is also a content description which, now, you are presenting abstracts that catch your attention for your reasons.

    2. Are you saying it's somehow useful?

    Often it is difficult to understand the utility of something if it is not clear to the person encountering it. For you, that is a consideration that is best for you to make. You have made it and it fails to pass your examination for reasons that work for you.

    Because I adapted the plan from a common standard business plan organization, I feel that most people can make use of it as a common standard of comparison. My audience is not, however, most people. I work with a self-selecting group that makes it through a filtering process. The filtering process is designed and works to eliminate 4 out of 5 persons according to the record and polls on the subject done by others than myself. There is a good correlation among users that is very similar to the filtering results.

    The "somehow" of the attachment is that it is a receptor of the person's personal situation, condition and circumstances. It turns out to produce a unique documentation that is comprehensive and specifically useful to the person who creates it. After a few hundred were created it became apparent that it is a supportive thing for making money for a family. No turtle type plans ever have appeared. All the plans turn out to be filled with the content necessary to impart to others and, more importantly, to guide the process of making money for the family in one or two particular ways throughout a skill development process.

    3. Do you see and understand the difference? I'll pass on this since it does not hold my interest. I am sure others can discuss this with you if they so desire. Good luck in furthering this concern of yours. I have a comprehensive inclusive focus; you may find that a narrow approach is less productive.


    Attached please find a draft of the 8 doublings.
     
    #46     Apr 19, 2006
  7. GS19

    GS19

    Thanks Grob, Lots to read, good stuff
     
    #47     Apr 19, 2006
  8. hcour

    hcour Guest

    You're trying to adjust your trading plan on the fly, while you're in an open position. That's a no-no. First create a plan w/specific, clear, definite rules. Once you take the position do not under any circumstances deviate. Make that the most important part of your plan: Rule number 8.a.1c - "I will not deviate from my plan while in the trade." Follow the plan in this manner X number of times. Then afterwards sit down and calmly and logically review what happened in the trade and find the problems using that wonderful thing called hindsight. Adjust aspects of the plan accordingly to what is working and what's not. You now have a new plan. Open a trade w/this newly evolved plan and follow rule 8.a.1c - "I will not deviate from my plan while in the trade." Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. Until you get it right.

    As has been pointed out, it doesn't sound like you have a complete plan to begin with. Get one. You should already know exactly what you will do under any market condition before you enter the trade. This way you take the psychological aspect out of your plan completely. It simply doesn't exist. It's called discipline. Do you think a quarterback in the NFL, in the middle of a huddle, w/a big game on the line, when emotions and adrenline are at their highest, suddenly says, "Hey, I just thought of a great play we've never tried, guys! Lets do blah blah." His fellow team members would look at him like he was nuts and rightly so. Yes, he has many options, and he may try something unusual or even radical, but everything a good quarterback proposes will already be in the playbook. He may improvise, but only w/in that already well-defined framework. The time to explore a completely new approach, a new play, is during practice, not smack in the middle of the big game.

    If you are unable to follow your own rule 8.a.1c then, as Mark said, your problem is personal psychology and that's something you have to examine and conquer. Are you afraid of success? Suprisingly, many folks are. Are you afraid of failure? "As long as I don't stick to my plan I'm not really a failure because I haven't yet actually traded like I'm supposed to." Do you have a conditioned mindset that one cannot actually sit at home in one's underwear in front of the computer and make money for oneself? Does it seem to good to be true? Do you feel guilty because you're not working at a job you hate like most folks in our society? You ask "Why I can't stick to my plan?" Your problem seems to be lack of understanding of what makes a trading plan, but if it is indeed psychological, then only you can answer that question, thru self-examination and facing what may be hard truths about yourself.

    H
     
    #48     Apr 19, 2006
  9. cicsman,

    I had the same problem so I know what you mean. It took me a lot of time and money lost to realize that without discipline my plan just doesn't exist and I am going to blow up. Never forget about that. All those day traders who blew up had lacked discipline. For now you need to work on your discipline. Here is what I am doing now.
    If you have IB account use a real time simulator like ZLT and a simple indicator crossover system with clear entry and exit points. Use a short time frame so you get a lot of signals. Your job is just to execute all the signals all day, nothing more. It's just an exercise so don't look at the money results, there is no ego involved. Do this thing for as long as you need to develop a habit to execute all your signal without emotion. That is my goal for now. In the meantime you can work on improving your system. I already started testing my system on the simulator and I have noticed that my discipline have improved, no big losses any more.
    In my personal day trading attempts before when trade went against me I use to move my stop loss in hope that market will turn around. Than when loss was really big I would just give up. In a winning trade I was so tense that I would take just a small profit using market order. I use to make the same mistakes trading on a simulator and the results were bad too, time wasted forever.
    Now I am back on the simulator doing this exercise and hoping that when I am back to real trading I will have a habit of discipline to stick to my system. Maybe this is naive and a waist of time but I don't see any point in trading if I can't stick to my own rules.

    Good trading


    trendtech
     
    #49     Apr 19, 2006
  10. It has nothing to do with discpline.

    This is a case of "not knowing"

    Discpline is easy once you KNOW.

    Sort of like knowing if you touch a stove, it will burn your hand.
    This particular trader does not know why entering early will burn his account.
    Once he understands why, he will not do so.

    with knowledge comes discipline, most of us are all lacking knowledge.
    Previous posters mentioned: Backtesting Absolutely correct.


    Not trading psychology, or problems in life,

    KNOWLEDGE!
     
    #50     Apr 19, 2006