“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” -Abraham Lincoln
Why we need to condition our minds to become more optimistic:
The war over control of your thoughts is a process. Just like going to the gym for a day, a week, or a month does not give you immediate results, conditioning your mind takes time. Like working out, mental conditioning requires upkeep and continuous practice to maintain. This will not only gravitate better trades to you, but will also change your perspective on life in general. There is undoubtedly a lot of mental stress that can inflict toxic psychological damage upon you as you explore the harsh dungeons of the stock market. By exercising your brain with new thinking patterns, you can learn to naturally deflect the psychological attacks that the stock market will attempt to inflict upon your mental health.
It never ceases to amaze me how one hundred students can learn the same exact information, and yet only 10 of those students will become good traders.
This is, of course, if you believe the studies that show approximately 98% of traders do not succeed right away, or achieve their desired goals in trading. Why was this happening? Is it their I.Q.? Well, some of the people who did not achieve their goals immediately were extremely smart. Even brain surgeons, lawyers, and engineers fail at trading. Was it their lack of motivation? Many of these people dedicated their lives to learning how to trade, yet never got to profitability.
So what does success at trading require? According to Dr. Martin Selegman, in order to select people for a challenging job, you must search for three characteristics:
- Aptitude
- Motivation
- Optimism
I personally believe that with optimism comes motivation and aptitude. There are ways to exercise your brain to think more more optimistic thoughts, which in my humble opinion is the number one thing every trader can do to improve. This will also ultimately reflect positively on the trades you choose, the stocks you find, and, of course, your overall P&L.
