What if all of your problems were psychological problems? What if you could get whatever you want just by eliminating the psychological roadblocks to it? What if you didn’t understand any of this and as a result you are stuck right where you are now, making very little progress? Interested? Well read on.
The following is just one of many examples of people getting stuck psychologically and thinking it’s something else. Most people who enter trading are good at problem solving. Quite often they come from engineering backgrounds where they are trained at problem solving. But what if the very act of trying to solve a problem was what kept you stuck?
Jim was an electrical engineer by trade. He was great at solving problems until he got into trading. However, with trading he found that he got really stuck in trading positions. He’d figure out great systems and then get stuck trying to execute them. And he was always wondering why. This became a new problem for him to work on. But the more he worked on it, the more frustrated he became.
For such frustration, I always recommend the feeling release exercise that we use very effectively in Peak Performance 101 and it is also described in various forms in the Peak Performance Home Study Course.
When Jim came to me, his initial requirement was to release the feeling of frustration. He did that and felt a great relief. It now felt like he could move on with his life.
However, he still considered his trading to be a problem that he needed to solve. And this really bothered him, because he couldn’t seem to figure it out. As a result, I said, what if you just release the feelings that have to do with “trading being a problem that you need to solve.”
Jim was a bit puzzled, because this seemed different from the frustration. The frustration was a knot in his solar plexus and a tightness in his throat. He could relate to that as a feeling. But wanting to solve a problem didn’t seem like a feeling.
My response to this was to say, "but let’s pretend it is a feeling." “Where is the feeling?” I asked.
“Well my head seems to be spinning when I think about it,” Jim responded.
“Okay, that could be a feeling. Let’s act like it is. Now, are you willing to just let it go?”
Jim responded, “But I need to solve the problem.”
“What does it feel like to need to do something? Let’s pretend like that’s a feeling,” I responded.
“Okay,” said Jim.
“Now,” I repeated, “are you willing to let it go?”
“No, I don’t think so,” said Jim.
“Well, then, are you willing to allow it to be there… to embrace it.”
“I’m not sure,” said Jim.
”Would you rather have the feeling or would you rather be at peace,” I responded.
“Hmm,” said Jim, “it feels different now. In fact, I think it’s starting to disappear. Yes, I think it’s gone.”
“Okay, now go back to your trading,” I said.
Jim returned to his trading and over the next two hours he executed his trading system flawlessly. And when he realized what was happening, he was totally amazed.
“Wow,” said Jim, “suddenly when its no longer a problem for me, I just trade.”
“Yes,” I responded, “isn’t that interesting?”
Ask yourself, “Would you rather have your trading problems or be free of them?” This is a very important question, because if you are trying to figure out a problem you are going into the past. You can’t deal with the present -- what the market is doing -- because you are trying to deal with the past in figuring out the problem.
Also ask yourself, “If you are trying to figure out a problem, what are you doing? Are you not planning to have the problem again in the future? And isn’t it possible that your planning might just create it again in the future?”
Perhaps you haven’t thought about all of these issues before, but I’m recommending that you do now. Perhaps the trading process is much more psychological than you ever thought. Perhaps its not about solving problems after all.
