No Short-cuts in this Game

Writing about trading is simple; writing about why people win & lose is simple enough also also. The key to any writing is that you beleive what you are writing. The tricky part is writing for a large readership. I’ve come to realize that when it comes to readership the key is presenting the truth in a way that is palatable for the majority.  That says a mouth full as to why over 90% of retail account holders fail. What that is saying is that our minds are constantly oscillating between what happened in the past and what we think is going to happen in the future. While the reality is neither, it’s in between, in the now. We also want to contribute something to the plan for egos sake. Too often we are ignoring the present, or “the now” and trying to form fit our own egos contributions to the process, which is very dangerous. It is only the present that should dictate our trading decisions, and so too we need to realize to take our own mind out of it, and learn to execute without thinking. In keeping our trading decisions focused on the present, or immediate trends, we leave no room for excessive analysis, or analysis paralysis which more often then not handicaps the decision making process, particularly when it comes to risking one’s hard earned money.

The paradox of all this is that our own minds handicap our intuition!
“The experience of more advanced sciences…indicates that…impatience merely delays progress, including that of the treatment of the burning questions. There is no reason to assume the existence of short-cuts.”

The truth in trading, whether you agree or disagree, is there is a difference between ourselves, and our minds. The first is trustworthy, the second is not. The first, ourself, is gifted with intuition, the second, our mind, is ego driven. If you can make that distinction, you are well suited to learning how to trade. Although I know the truth of that statement, it is much better articulated in a quote I found from a Doctor in biology, Carl Calleman, who specializes on human consciousness:

 “…The mind is limited in both time and space. The mind is a set way of structuring our thoughts, producing a constant stream of chatter, comments, evaluations, comparisons and judgments. These judgments and evaluations always lead the modern mind to look for something wrong, either in you, in somebody else, or in the situation. The mind cannot rest in the present; instead it oscillates between past and future, always looking for ways to change things. It is not intent on being…but on becoming…and so leaves no room for peace or satisfaction”.  �
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Further frustrating those 90+% of traders who regularly lose is thier impatience to become winners. They don’t understand, just as I did not for many years, that you can not hurry important learning experiences.  To give you another apropos trading quote:

“Theory of Games and Economic Activity”, von Neumann and Morganstern, Princeton University Press, 1944

Sadly for those mind driven account holders, there are no short-cuts.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jjnorris

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DISCLAIMER: Futures, options and Forex (off-exchange foreign currency futures and options, or “FX”) trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. The valuation of futures, options and Forex may fluctuate, and, as a result, clients may lose more than their original investment.

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