Persistence is not the same as will-power. Persistence is a result or by-product of will-power. Which came first, persistence or will-power? The answer is will-power... Will power is what you need to be persistant in your pursuit.
I think you are right on here. The only thing I would add is that a lot of times will power turns into hope. Once you are in a trade hope seems to always kill it for you. What is needed is a defined set of rules for every trader. Then the hard part, follow it. 4re
Willpower? Doesn't make you any money. Only hard-nosed common sense combined with LOTS (many years) of preparative work will.
If you're serious about will you may want to read "The Act of Will" by Roberto Assagioli, published 1973. Assagioli breaks down will into its aspects and qualities, so you can first understand what it is you're trying to master, and then provides exercises to do so. It is his contention, and one with which you may agree given your comments, that the mastery of the will is the first step toward mastery of every other aspect of your life. Will can be "exercised" and strengthened just like the muscles of the body and he provides specific exercises, and then points out that, once you understand what will actually is, you can come up w/countless exercises on your own. For instance, one of his exercises: "Replace in a box, very slowly and deliberately, one hundred matches." Another, "Get up and down from a chair thirty times." These may sound silly and pointless to most, but that pointlessness is the point. He writes "The important thing is not the doing of this or that exercise, but the manner in which it is performed. It should be done willingly, with interest, with precision, with style." These simple exercises evolve into much more complex ones involving our emotions and psyche that we can practice in our everyday life, such as controlling our temper in circumstances that would normally try it severely, and so on and so on. Meditation is a great tool for mastery of will. Another great exercise for will would be Yoga. Unlike much exercise, Yoga is only done properly with great concentration, gently, slowly. One can only do it correctly if one's mind is completely engaged in the specific task, in the here and now. The book is as practical and/or spiritual as one wishes it to be, as understanding and strengthening of will leads one to a greater knowledge and mastery of self. H
Will power that helps the discipline and emotions in trading is a matter of practice. Importantly, this practice does not end when the trade is over, it goes on 24 hours even in sleep. So next time you win in a trade then do not start jumping like a monkey in joy and opposite. Psychological change is a slow process.
Will power to me implies you're trying to force yourself to do something you don't want to do (whether you think it's right or wrong). If you think it's the right thing to do but don't want to do it, maybe that's just stupidity or laziness? To get yourself to do the right thing you need to build overwhelming evidence where doing the task becomes pleasurable. Moving away from pain (mentally) or moving toward pleasure; or both. Evidence comes from knowledge, knowledge from experience, experience form trial/error or failure/success. I didn't read all the posts in this thread but saw someone mention Tony Robbins. He uses NLP and modeling to turbo charge much of his successful results.