I've already touched on how change started happening for me. It was all in stages; it wasn't just in one day, week or even a month. Change is not only about the moment we decide to trade in a different and better way, because change also happens with our state of knowledge. For me one example of change was learning the market profile (MP). It took me a lot of time, don’t ask how long because I don’t even remember, but I do know that it took me at least three rounds of studying to grasp it. I got the book and I was trying to read it, and oh my, it was hard and it sounded like Chinese to me. I breezed through it and didn't understand a word. After a while I tried to read it again with the same results, but my third attempt was the charm, total success. I just wasn't ready for it before then. I ended up reading three books about MP really fast, I watched the best seminars I could find about MP, and I also read a lot of articles about it at real time of market action. This was how the market profile became the base for my rules.
"You will change when you’re ready to change, and you’ll be ready to change when you recognize that you need to change."*
I wanted so many things to happen simultaneously. I was reading a book each about market shapes, MP and psychology all at the same time. And it was too much. I knew that psychology was the most important topic I should get into, but since I lacked belief in my plan and rules I decided first to study more and then make my final planned change, which was to focus on the psychology of trading. I went through books about shapes, then MP, and finally ended up and still continue to read only psychology books. And with that approach self-coaching became a lot easier for me. Day by day I was setting up goals to achieve. Some took longer to reach as would be expected, but some were easier and helped me feel successful. Goal by goal, I got to know myself, how I trade.
"Work on that one goal intensively and daily until you make and sustain significant progress; then move to the next change."*
"When you coach yourself, focus your efforts and let one success fuel others."*
The first thing I learned from working with my new coach (Me) was that I was missing goals. I saw that I made progress and that I was trading better, but it was very easy to make mistakes, to over-trade, to question myself twice about a trade instead of checking my list of rules. Since I started to work on myself, I realized that setting a goal and following it for a period of time until it becomes my habit is the best way to stay positive and focused on my rules. Doing the same good thing over and over again built sustainable change and made me want to continue doing it day after day, week after week.
"We've seen that the enemy of change is relapse: all of us too easily fall back into old patterns if we’re not making conscious and sustained efforts to build new ones."*
"Successful coaching means working as hard at maintaining changes as initiating them."*
Change came to me because my situation was bad, it was really bad. I knew I was doing something wrong and repeating the same, old, bad patterns every trade/day/week. It took a while to understand my mistakes and even longer to stop making them, but the next step was to get things right and start doing it all the right way. Realizing your mistakes is a big step, and stopping yourself from making them is another. But this shaped me to do good things, and by repeating the good I became fearless, less stressed and a strong believer in my rules, plan and strategy. By setting goals and working towards them for a long period of time, until it became second nature, I started to see trades clearly, plan them slowly and take them with no possible anxiety. The most powerful goals for me were to be patient, to check my list of rules before taking a trade and to take photos (screenshots) and notes.
When finally I got things right, I saw that it was working and that I can do it. There was nothing left to do but continue the same to get consistent in my successful choices.
"If you’re trading well, that’s one of the best times to coach yourself."*
*LESSON 10 The Daily Trading Coach 101 Lessons for Becoming Your Own Trading Psychologist by Steenbarger, Brett N.
"You will change when you’re ready to change, and you’ll be ready to change when you recognize that you need to change."*
I wanted so many things to happen simultaneously. I was reading a book each about market shapes, MP and psychology all at the same time. And it was too much. I knew that psychology was the most important topic I should get into, but since I lacked belief in my plan and rules I decided first to study more and then make my final planned change, which was to focus on the psychology of trading. I went through books about shapes, then MP, and finally ended up and still continue to read only psychology books. And with that approach self-coaching became a lot easier for me. Day by day I was setting up goals to achieve. Some took longer to reach as would be expected, but some were easier and helped me feel successful. Goal by goal, I got to know myself, how I trade.
"Work on that one goal intensively and daily until you make and sustain significant progress; then move to the next change."*
"When you coach yourself, focus your efforts and let one success fuel others."*
The first thing I learned from working with my new coach (Me) was that I was missing goals. I saw that I made progress and that I was trading better, but it was very easy to make mistakes, to over-trade, to question myself twice about a trade instead of checking my list of rules. Since I started to work on myself, I realized that setting a goal and following it for a period of time until it becomes my habit is the best way to stay positive and focused on my rules. Doing the same good thing over and over again built sustainable change and made me want to continue doing it day after day, week after week.
"We've seen that the enemy of change is relapse: all of us too easily fall back into old patterns if we’re not making conscious and sustained efforts to build new ones."*
"Successful coaching means working as hard at maintaining changes as initiating them."*
Change came to me because my situation was bad, it was really bad. I knew I was doing something wrong and repeating the same, old, bad patterns every trade/day/week. It took a while to understand my mistakes and even longer to stop making them, but the next step was to get things right and start doing it all the right way. Realizing your mistakes is a big step, and stopping yourself from making them is another. But this shaped me to do good things, and by repeating the good I became fearless, less stressed and a strong believer in my rules, plan and strategy. By setting goals and working towards them for a long period of time, until it became second nature, I started to see trades clearly, plan them slowly and take them with no possible anxiety. The most powerful goals for me were to be patient, to check my list of rules before taking a trade and to take photos (screenshots) and notes.
When finally I got things right, I saw that it was working and that I can do it. There was nothing left to do but continue the same to get consistent in my successful choices.
"If you’re trading well, that’s one of the best times to coach yourself."*
*LESSON 10 The Daily Trading Coach 101 Lessons for Becoming Your Own Trading Psychologist by Steenbarger, Brett N.
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