That Voice in Your Head
We all have a voice in our head that we confuse as our own. Dr. Bill Williams, the trader and author of “Trading Chaos” calls it a “drunken money” and understands that this is actually normal. Most of us intuitively understand to ignore it, because it’s silly. It’s just residual noise that’s been recorded in our minds over the years that gets kicked up every now and again by emotions and thoughts in our conscious and subconscious, like dust or leaves blowing through an open door in the fall. Traders know the voice well. It’s much more active for us because of the barrage of emotions associated with what we do. In order to move from surviving to thriving as traders we have to figure out that the voice is not our own. The voice is an “it”, that we can put back in the box just by confronting “it”.
I remember not too long ago when I would hear the voice the moment a trade started to go against me a little bit. “Here we go again” it would say. “Losing your money is the price you’ll pay for thinking you’re good enough to not have to work for your money like everyone else”. I was already jumpy from the excitement and fear of trading so it didn’t take much for the “voice” to shake me out of a trade at the most inopportune time. Luckily I was trading very small and had the beginnings of a trading plan. Regardless that I did not know the “voice” was normal noise associated with the fear, need and greed of trading, I had an idea that if I just stuck to my trading plan the numbers would be on my side. Luckily I had a great mentor and plenty of patience, or that voice may have gotten the best of me.
So next time you hear that voice in your head, whether you are trading or not, know that it’s just a mental dust swirl that we all have, and which is absolutely normal, and more important is easily controlled once you realize “it” is not you and following through with your existing plan.
Jay Norris 800-971-2154