[trading diva]

Thanks Lance and Neatz for going to so much trouble to spell out what we've been learning lately.
After a frustrating day and night of trading yesterday, with me jumping out of trades way too quickly, I can now see from what I have just read that I have been trying to tackle too many things at once, rather than taking it easy and taking my time to learn. I have a bad habit of being hard on myself and just when I think I have given that up, up comes another example of it. So more work to do on that one. Yesterday was really an easy trading day, with a good long run and quite a few re-entry positions, yet I ended up minus for the day, after having been ahead. My biggest mistake was setting a pip target for me which at this stage seems too big, even though it was only 50. But since I haven't reached any where near that target yet, it makes sense to start much smaller and build my confidence. I know the system works and I know what to do. Just have to practice and practice and practice and I know I will be a brilliantly successful trader one day soon.

[winddragon]

Trading Diva - My two cents.

I was having trouble with the pip target - I had it written at the top of my trade record sheet so that every time I did a trade - good or bad it was there.

A good trade = elation and closer to the target
a bad trade = beating myself up or frustration

but in the spirit of making it work for myself...
I've stopped writing the pip target (I know it in my heart)
additionally I've stopped calculating the profit / loss from each trade
whiole I'm trading - I leave that till the end of the night.

That way all I'm focused on now is the entry, exit, and stop numbers and what time they occured,

It's totally taken my mind off the or the and now it's just numbers - which is much easier and stops me getting in my own way with the emotions during a trading session.

it may be something to try...

[trading diva]

Thanks for your post. I do the same thing. I have my pip target in my head (heart) and don't write it down anymore. A mistake I made with my target was to make it too large though, which was disempowering - something I couldn't relate to. I mostly don't think about the money any more either, even turning off my account balance before it shows up when I first open the PureDeal screen. Now it's just knowing that my pip score has gone down or up - just unfortunate that it seems to be going down more than up at the moment. But as I said, practice, practice, practice and also keep looking at what it is about me that gets in the way of my own success. Thanks again.

[1pipatatime]

Hi Guy's,

It is good to set a pip target too measure how well you are doing in performance.

But when trading, ALL YOU FOCUS ON IS EXECUTING THE TRADES ACCORDING TO THE SYSTEM, so set a pip target and when trading forget about the pip target until you have finished trading. If executing trades correctly the pips will take care of themselves.

And remember there is nothing wrong just area's in which we need to develop.

Cheers

1pipatatime

[1pipatatime]

Originally Posted by trading diva »

Thanks for your post. I do the same thing. I have my pip target in my head (heart) and don't write it down anymore. A mistake I made with my target was to make it too large though, which was disempowering - something I couldn't relate to. I mostly don't think about the money any more either, even turning off my account balance before it shows up when I first open the PureDeal screen. Now it's just knowing that my pip score has gone down or up - just unfortunate that it seems to be going down more than up at the moment. But as I said, practice, practice, practice and also keep looking at what it is about me that gets in the way of my own success. Thanks again.

So just one question, what is it that gets in the way of your success?

Cheers

1pipatatime

[trading diva]

That's a good question. As you know, I've been doing a lot of work on my psychology for a long time and especially so in the last 12 months. Of course, it's something I am engaged in continually and will always be, but I've been thinking about that question again in the last couple of days and I think that if I am honest, I am really doing okay. My inclination is to look for evidence that something needs fixing (as if I am broken), but I am really pretty happy with where I am at and happy that I continue to grow.

I think it really comes down to continual practice. People have said to me often over the years that I am very hard on myself and I think I expected to do a couple of weeks training (added to the almost year before that) and be an instant expert! Ridiculous! What I realize is that I need to go easy on myself and allow my knowledge to unfold. Being hard on myself has me try to force results in my trading and clearly that DOES NOT WORK!

I have noticed that my instincts are developing pretty well and as I learn to trust them my trading will improve. Not trusting them is part of being hard on myself. Something like, it couldn't be that easy, if that makes sense.

I have also been a bit over eager with planning all the luxuries I want in my life. Don't be mistaken, I want them and I concentrate on what I want, but first of all I want to be a successful trader. I had started conversations with sales people about houses and cars and have now been clear with them that I am putting my trading first, before I think about anything else. There's a lot of freedom in being straight with others, or at least for me that works.

I am paper trading today, after discussing some indicators I was not using correctly yesterday. I will continue to paper trade this week, if that is what works for me.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the way things are progressing and I just have to be mindful of my psychology as I go.

Hope that answers the question.

[1pipatatime]

Hi trading diva,

"My inclination is to look for evidence that something needs fixing (as if I am broken), but I am really pretty happy with where I am at and happy that I continue to grow."

So not to let you hide, what is it that has you think you need fixing?

Cheers

1pipatatime

[trading diva]

Good question again. I don't think I need fixing, but for many years I did - most of my life really, or at least from when I was quite small. Given I will be 57 next month, I had a lot of years practicing a way of thinking, based on my past decisions about myself. In the last 12 months however, I have really taken on concentrating on what I want and who I want to be. I could analyze myself to death, but all I would get is more of the same. What I focus on (we focus on) is what manifests! Or as I used to say to my daughters, much to their great annoyance - as ye sow, so shall ye reap! Whatever you put your attention on is what grows. So, it seems obvious to me that if I keep analyzing what I don't want, like needing fixing, or lack of anything, that is what I will get more of. I have been practicing concentrating on what I want and it does take practice. What I realized a couple of days ago was that I slipped back into a past conversation briefly, looking to find some fault in myself. So enough of that! I have been reading some of the books by Paul McKenna and I find the approach he uses is very useful to me. Enjoy and appreciate who you are right now, get clear on what you want, then literally program yourself to become that person, through visualizations, mirror work, etc. His approach really aligns with other stuff I've been listening to and reading for some time now, so thanks for your recommendation Lance. Also, as part of that old conversation, I went headlong into using a new system, without giving myself the grace of practicing it on paper first. The old conversation was to prove myself right. What I want to be is a brilliantly successful trader. I am really enjoying the journey and to quote a couple of things from one of Paul McKenna's books "Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. Thomas Watson, founder of IBM". Or from Richard Branson "I have learnt more from my failures than my successes".
I've had my share of failures and hopefully will continue to have them. I couldn't stand the thought of becoming complacent and treading water in life, so of course I will fail sometimes in my attempts to grow.
There are things in my life I want to transform, like my fitness and my financial position, for instance, but in all that, I don't need fixing. So, to requote a line from my previous post "I am really pretty happy with where I am at and happy that I continue to grow." I look forward enormously to the opportunities life will present to me.