An expression that most of us remember from our childhood is, "It's not whether you win or lose; it's how you play the game." The underlying message is an important one for children to understand. As we get older, however, we're more like to prefer the adage, "Winning isn't the only thing; it's everything."
These are radically different mental approaches to winning and losing, and it's probably accurate to say that most of us bring the latter to the table by the time we begin our career as traders. Which philosophy, however, is better suited to consistently profitable trading?
In my case, I clearly brought the "Winning isn't the only thing; it's everything" philosophy into my trading early on. On the plus side, this kind of thinking will drive you very hard, but it comes with a serious drawback for traders who want to be consistently profitable. This mindset can be associated with the drive to win at all costs, never to lose under any circumstance, and therein is the problem.
Consistently profitable traders are not sore losers. They don't tie up a bunch of emotional energy with the outcome of a trade. In fact, they do quite the opposite. They tend to view the outcome as meaningless, just a blip in a long series of trades during their trading careers. As a result, they don't hesitate to book small losses when necessary. If consistent results are what you are looking for, give some thought to your attitude about winning and losing. If you focus on how you play "the game" of trading, the results will take care of themselves.
