[DbPhoenix]

RULE #19: Make sure you know when you're on a cold streak... You’re not aware of your condition. You’re not stepping back from it and seeing it -- and, more important, not acting on this information. As a result, as cold as you are, you often find yourself right back in there on the next hand, fighting, struggling, betting...

You need to be two people-- one is the guy who is doing it, and the second is the guy who steps back and watches the other guy from a slight distance and evaluates whether the first guy is too tired, too upset, too unfocused, too much on tilt, etc, to be sitting at the poker table, trading, or whatever. Most important, this second guy must have the AUTHORITY to pull the first guy out of the chair if he doesn't like what he sees. (William)

The first step in the process of creating consistency is to start noticing what you’re thinking, saying, and doing. Why? Because everything we think, say, or do as a trader contributes to and therefore reinforces some belief in our mental system. Because the process of becoming consistent is psychological in nature, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you’ll have to start paying attention to your various psychological processes.

The idea is eventually to learn to become an objective observer of your own thoughts, words, and deeds. Your first line of defense against committing a trading error is to catch yourself thinking about it. Of course, the last line of defense is to catch yourself in the act. If you don’t commit yourself to becoming an observer to these processes, your realizations will always come after the experience, usually when you are in a state of deep regret and frustration. (Mark Douglas)