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You Can't Become Rich In Your Pocket Until You Become Rich In Your Mind | ||||
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The problem was this was costing me a lot of money because I was usually having losing trades on the volatile openings in the S&P 500 futuresCLEARING THE CALCULATOR This exercise is based on whats called a high voltage image. A high voltage image is a mental picture, symbol or quick mental movie that is vivid, memorable, and can have substantial impact on our thought process. High voltage images are pictures we see in our mind that everyone is familiar with and can relate to. This is a little different than the mental movies weve been talking about. Everyone is familiar with what a calculator looks and feels like. In this case, we are going to use the clearing the calculator exercise to help us forget about our past trade and move confidently onto the next trade. A problem many people have is forgetting about their previous trades. For instance, if someone has a losing trade, they take the results of that losing trade and it influences how they act in the next trade. But as I hope you know, one trade has nothing to do with the next. The market certainly does not take into account how you traded in your previous trade. Even though most people realize this, they still let their previous trade influence what they will do next. For example, if youve just lost $500 on your last trade, does that have anything to do with how much potential the market has to move on your next trade? No, of course not. But many people will not be satisfied until theyve made that $500 back. They dont consider that the market may not be offering $500 in the next trade, but because they cant forget about the last trade, they arent satisfied with less than $500. This kind of attitude makes for some very bad trading decisions. So we need an exercise to help us forget the past trades (no matter what happened) and move confidently onto the next trade. This high voltage exercise will help you to move onto your next trade without allowing your last trade to influence you negatively. EXERCISE 1) Get in a relaxed state with the relaxation technique Calm Body, Calm Mind. 2) Picture in your minds eye a giant handheld calculator. Feel the calculator in your hand. See the screen and the various buttons on the calculator. Imagine that you see the buying and selling price as well as the result of your last trade on the screen of calculator. 3) Now we need to forget that trade. No matter if it was a winner, loser, or a break-even trade. We still need to forget that trade and move onto the next one. No matter what happened, we cant change the past. We can only keep our mind clear to be productive in the future. This is what clearing the calculator will do for you. 4) Now that you see your trade on the screen on our calculator, we will need to clear the calculator. See yourself in your minds eye with your big finger pushing the clear button on the calculator. Take in a deep breath while pushing the clear button down. As your finger lifts up off the button, let out that deep breath and expel all your tensions out as you clear the screen on your calculator. By pushing the clear button, you are getting rid of this trade forever. You cannot change it, you can only move forward and forget about it. 5) Now you see the calculator screen completely blank after youve pushed the clear button. The decisions youve made on the previous trade are gone forever. Take a moment to feel how much more relaxed you are. 6) Only now are you mentally ready to look for the next trading opportunity. Now that the calculator is cleared, the next trade that you do can stand on its own. In other words, the next trade has nothing to do with how the previous one worked out. And since the calculator screen is now blank, the previous trade will have no influence on the next one. 7) This exercise may be a bit cumbersome at first, but with practice, it will become easier and easier. After a short while, youll be able to use the clear the calculator exercise in a matter of a few seconds. MAKE YOUR OWN VISUALIZATION EXERCISES Now youve seen a number of visualization exercises you can use to help improve your trading. Youve seen how visualization exercises work and how using either real or imagined experiences can benefit you tremendously. Youve seen how using as much detail as possible can make the visualizing techniques even more powerful. Youve gotten some ideas on how to go into the theater of your mind and change your bad habits into good habits. Youve seen how getting into a relaxed state is so important before using the visualization exercises. With practice, you can now see the mental images clearly in your minds eye. Now it is time for you to come up with some of your own visualization exercises. Now that you have the proper tools, it should be easy for you to come up with some exercises that will help your trading. You simply need to find out what parts of your trading you are having trouble with or, in other words, what are some of your bad trading habits. Once youve done that, simply build some visualization techniques to break those bad habits. Here are some things to remember when making your own visualization exercises: 1) You must be relaxed when doing visualization techniques. Trying to do these exercises with a stressed or tense attitude will simply not work. 2) Use as much detail as possible. Always use your senses to help you visualize. Can you see, feel, smell, hear all the things in your visualization clearly. If you cant, you need to continue practicing until you do. Remember, as adults, weve most likely stopped using our imagination like when we were kids. We need to strengthen our imagination as if we were trying to get physically fit. It takes practice, exercise, and time to get good. 3)When you first start with visualization exercises, try to do them at the same time eachday. This will reinforce the habit. 4) Remember to build a theater of your mind in which you will watch the visualization process. Dr. Maltz has found that using a theater (something everyone is familiar with) has much better results in helping people see the images clearly. 5) Remember your past success to give yourself that winning feeling before and after visualizing. This will help give you the confidence it takes to succeed in the future as you make that winning feeling a habit. 6) See yourself with kind eyes. In other words, do not beat yourself up for your mistakes. Instead, you should forgive yourself completely and move on. By continually reliving your mistakes, you are actually practicing the mistake so that it can happen again in the future. Forgive and forget your mistakes. Psycho-Cybernetic techniques can help you do much more than simply being a better trader. They can help you with relationships, athletic competition, confidence in sales, social activities, etc. The book Psycho-Cybernetics has helped hundreds of thousands of people improve their lives in many different ways. There is no reason it cant do the same for you. Here Are Some More Visualization Techniques I remember when I first learned about using visualization techniques quite a few years ago. Whenever I would have a problem with my trading, I would build a visualization technique to help me get rid of that problem. The following are visualization methods that Ive used in the past. I put these in here to show you how easy it is to make up your own techniques to help you with any trading problem you may be having. Trading Too Early In The Morning For a while, when I first started trading off-the-floor, I would put on a trade right after the open. I was so used to trading on the floor where I would do between 150-200 trades a day. Thats actually a small number of trades for a floor trader. Because of this, I would want to trade immediately after the open, even if there wasnt the best opportunity. I just wanted to be involved because I was so used to trading first thing after the open. The problem was this was costing me a lot of money because I was usually having losing trades on the volatile openings in the S&P 500 futures. It would also put me in a negative frame of mind because many times my first trade of the day was a losing trade. So I made up this visualization technique to help me avoid trading until there was a clear opportunity: 1) Get in a relaxed state with the relaxation technique Calm Body, Calm Mind. 2) Watch yourself in the theater of your mind. You want to see yourself sitting at your computer screen right after the market opens. See yourself with as much detail as possible watching the market. See the clock right after the open. What does the computer screen look like? How does the computer mouse feel in your hand? How do the keys on the keyboard feel? 3) I would see myself watching the market for the first half hour of the day. I would see myself being tempted to put on a trade. But then, in my visualizing, I would see myself resisting putting on the trade because of how much money I was losing just to be in the market instead of waiting for a clear trading signal. 4) I would see myself clearly waiting until at least 30 minutes after the open before putting on my first trade of the day. (I would actually watch the clock in the theater of my mind and avoid trading until 9:00 CST.) 5) I would then see myself perceiving a clear trading signal and, in my mind, I would take that signal. I would then see that signal working out because I was patient and didnt trade just to trade. I would then clearly see myself having a profitable day because I got off to a good start instead of the old habit I had of constantly having to dig myself out of a hole each morning. 6) Does this mean I didnt ever have losing trades in the morning anymore? Of course not! But what it did do is get me out of the habit of feeling like I had to be in the market as soon as it opened. And you know what, after watching this little movie in my mind, my trading really improved over the next several months. Are You Having Trouble Visualizing? This is really more of a way to do visualization exercises than it is actually an exercise. A friend of mine once told me about this when I was first learning about visualization techniques. Its really for people who are having trouble seeing themselves in their visualizations. Heres an idea that may make it a little easier: Some people have a hard time seeing themselves in their minds eye. This is a big problem because its important to see yourself acting the way you want in your minds eye first. Then, after that, your behavior will start to change. So I would suggest instead of seeing yourself in your minds eye, try and see someone you admire. Do the visualization exercises, but imagine how the person you admire would handle the situation. The reason this works is unfortunately because we hold such a poor image of ourselves. Usually, the reason a person has trouble with visualization techniques is because they dont really believe they can change, even though they probably could change. So using somebody you admire can make the visualizing a little easier. Just remember, as it gets easier to see the pictures in your minds eye, switch the person in your movie from the person you admire to yourself (who you should also admire!). |
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