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Losing is Part of the
Game
By Robin Dayne
Master Acceptance but in small amounts. Few
occupations come with the everyday possibility of losing.
However, ones social conditioning, surroundings and environment
are overflowing with strong messages to succeed from birth,
end up having a profound effect ones trading career.
Learning to master the mind set of losing is
critical to a traders well being. A trader must take several
steps to master this. First is to re-defining the meaning
of loss, positioning the mind in a non-critical mode, then
create of rules to reinforce disciplines and preserve cash,
and finally view the loss as the best asset for ones trading
perfection.
From the time men enter the world and can read
the “The Little Train That Could” parenting and
surroundings guide them into prominent professions of perceived
success, like doctors and attorneys, all demanding perfection.
Years of schooling set the standard of being number one in
sports and achievements. This constant repetitive environment
for achieving, being right, not accepting loss and having
the primary desire to win is a conditioning that has to be
relaxed for accepting the lose in a different way.
When one chooses trading as a career they are
unaware of the impact of social conditioning. Soon as trading
begins the challenges from this start to become very clear
and can come back to bite the trader in the pocketbook. Installed
beliefs, behaviors, experiences and hidden sub-conscious triggers
have become programmed into the mind. The mind and body has
developed “auto-pilot” triggers and they now surface
unexpectedly while trading forcing undesired actions within
the trade entries, execution and exits. All this takes a direct
attack on the “ego”. Some traders, work through
this over time, many don’t survive, and just add to
the dropout statistics. Non-mastery of emotions is the major
reason so many will fail in the business. This trading lesson
answers the WHY, and more importantly HOW to over come it
with a variety of solutions. Experienced traders will appreciate
the definition of this concept and new traders should take
heed!
Mind Mastery of the Loss. High-end traders have
one thing in common. They have learned to redefine the meaning
of loss and accept losing as part of the game. There is not
one trader I have come across and who has succeeded that doesn’t
have a “war story” of losses. In fact, many have
experienced enormously large losses. Once this happens there
seems to be a common thread of sanity that overcomes them.
The trader goes through a metamorphous. They first make the
solid decision they will do anything to succeed. Second determination
explodes and “D–isciplines” are created
in a new set of rules I define as “must never do again,”
or else. Focusing on mastering the disciplines can improve
the chance of reaching prosperity and success. Losing becomes
the right of passage, to wealth.
Here are some steps to attack this.
1) Redefine the meaning of losing. And complete the “Action
Exercise” below. When you look at losing in a different
way it helps to minimize the emotions it stirs up. You have
to work to let go of your old definition.
2) Decide and make the solid RULE that if you
have a losing trade you will stop and review it BEFORE taking
the next trade.
3) Take the opportunity to think in your mind
that by reviewing the loss it will bring you something new
in the trading strategy or implementation. This is your opportunity
to learn something new a way to “tweak” the approach
and fine-tune the next trade.
4) Learn to manage daily losses keeping them
to a minimum. Ask “What amount can I lose where I will
not be emotionally upset? What amount can I let go of where
I don not bring it to the trading the next day? That’s
where your limit is for now, that can be changed later as
you progress. The goal is to stay emotionally balanced. Many
who fall pray to the emotional impact of losses, experience
blows to the ego, low self esteem, insecurity, uncertainty
and many times paralysing fears.
To make things change one needs to take immediate
action. Here is your action plan for the exercise:
Action Exercise #1:
• Take one page of lined paper. Write
one answer per line an answer the question. “What’s
great about losing? You MUST fill the page. Re-Read this each
day till it feels true to you.
• Make sure you immediately review the trade right after
the loss.
• Define the new approach before you take the trade
• Sim trade the new approach until it works and you
put cash on the line
• Keep a journal of the trade stats
• Determine your maximum lose limit for the day –
Where you stay emotionally balance
In the meantime great trading! |
