Archive for April, 2010

What is a Major Hidden Influence Behind Your Trading Decisions

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Have you ever wondered why traders don’t make money consistently?

Do you blame the markets, the systems, lack of information or information overload, etc…?

The truth of the matter is that you don’t trade the markets. You trade your perception of the markets.

Let me explain.

When we look at markets, we look at them based on our filters. Our filters determine how we view them and what state of mind we are in.

What are our filters and how do we develop them?

Our filters are beliefs/thoughts/actions based on our own previous experiences as well as the experiences of our mentors/influencers in different aspects of our lives.

An example is media. On a daily basis, we are bombarded by negative messages. So, we tend to focus on what can go wrong and are constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.

What differentiates the traders who make money consistently is that they hear what is being said – instead of getting influenced and drained by it, they look at the opportunities that are available.

Did you know that more millionaires were made during the Great Depression than in any other era in U.S. history? Among them are Colonel Sanders, who was a grandpa when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Walt Disney.

Furthermore, Forbes magazine says 10 million millionaires will be created by the year 2016.

What is the difference between the millionaire and others? They don’t have the filters that the majority has. They don’t follow the conventional beliefs…

There is a story that I heard which reminds me that nobody is immune to these beliefs.

There was a holy man who was in charge of fundraising to provide services in the community. However, his perception was that fundraising is equal to begging. So he was trying to avoid it with passion.

He came up with the brilliant idea that he would get money from investors and use the interest for charity work and pay back the principal to the investors. Sounds like a great idea, yes?

The problem was that he lost all the money in 3 weeks. So, after all, he needed to raise more money, which for him meant even more begging.

What is the moral of the story? If we don’t notice our beliefs and make a conscious choice about them, then they come and haunt us in different ways.

So what can we do about our beliefs?

  1. Acknowledge them
  2. Examine them to see if they are serving you
  3. If the beliefs are a hindrance, replace them with new ones that serve you

The important thing is that the beliefs that are not serving you have an affect only if you are not aware of them or don’t do anything about them.

Albert Einstein has a saying: “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

Remember, we are not defined by our abilities. We are defined by our choices!

To discover the strategies for making better choices and creating the kind of profits that you want, click here.