How Beliefs Influence and Control Your Results in Trading - Part 1

Hi, Brian MacAvoy here with Inside Out Trading. Today we're going to talk about beliefs. This is the first video in a series where we're going to be talking about beliefs. The different sets of beliefs that affect your trading and also the different aspects of beliefs and how these different aspects come into play during your trading. And really just in general, also, you know, with your life and how your beliefs really, you know, affect you as you go through your, through your day. So in this very first one here though, I wanted to take a few minutes and really just share with you my beliefs about trading and about you. A really good starting point for all this is my beliefs about, you know, trading. The population of people that include you and me, you know, the traders of the world. What I've found, and this is through experience, is that traders in general, and I'm sure it's true for you, let me just preface this by saying what I believe to be true about most traders, pretty sure is also true about you. These positive characteristics that I've discovered. First of all, traders in general are above average in a lot of ways. Smarter than average, generally have a better disposition, better self control, level of success in their lives, generally better discipline about themselves than most other people. It's not your average person that is even in a position to show up to trade them. And if you think about what average is, it's funny because when I was in college, you know, I thought average was, you know, like, you know, about here. Because I grew up with pretty intelligent parents and went to good schools. I was fortunate. And so for me, yeah, average was about here. And then, you know, and then I went to college, went to a good schools and engineering school, so, you know, average was about here. And it's funny because when I got out into the real world, and particularly in manufacturing and everything, I mean, not that I, you know, had been sheltered from the real world, but I hadn't really given it a whole lot of thought. But I was really just amazed at how, and I'm not a snob, don't take this wrong, but I discovered the truth about it is that average, it really isn't here. It's more like down here, the true average. Because there really are so many just stupid, lazy, disadvantaged people. Not that it's necessarily their fault. With some people it is. They just haven't bothered to utilize the assets that they have. Others, they never develop them. They don't seek growth and self improvement. And others, it's, you know, it's just how they are. But the Average person, you know, it's like if you go to Walmart, I mean, Walmart's a scary place. But if you go into Walmart, you know, the average person in Walmart, the average is, you know, down here. I mean, it's so bad that, you know, there's, there's videos and memes about it. You know, the scary world is over here, Walmart. Not that everybody that goes Walmart, you know, sucks, but like I said, that's a good sampling of the population. Just because so many people go there. Anyway, traders in general are above average and I believe that you are as well. Now that can sometimes be a curse because it also tends to give us sometimes a sense of false overconfidence. We can look at something and because we're intelligent, because we've already had experienced a good level of success in life, we had the confidence about ourselves to jump into new things, figure them out and tackle them. Take a look at trading. It appears so easy on the surface. It's just really easy to underestimate. And so that by itself kind of again puts us at a disadvantage. Kind of like above average people. I've heard this a long time ago, found it to be very true that sometimes, particularly with certain tests, like multiple choice tests, a person of higher intelligence can struggle, whereas a person of average intelligence will do well. Just because with a multiple choice test, a smarter person, they can argue all the different points, whereas for the average person the correct answer will be obvious because they can see the validity for the correct answer. But the other ones, they can't find a way to argue it. But an intelligent person could say, well, I can see how that would work, I can see how this would work, I can see how that would work. And I've experienced it myself. You probably have too. Anyway, so back to the general notion of traders are above average. Now the other thing that goes along with this, as far as my beliefs, trading is not an occupation where it requires a natural gift for it. I mean, of course, if you have a natural gift for it, great. But most people don't. And at the same time, trading is a skill based occupation. It's one that can be learned and learned relatively quickly if you're given the right training. So one thing I found is that most people, when they get into trading, they get into it and it's an emotional experience and they're having a tough time with it and they're getting beat up to making mistakes. A lot of people, you've heard all the horror stories, probably experienced some of Your own. So they look at it as well, what I need to fix is me. What I found is, and this has become a firm belief of mine through experience, both inside of trading, before trading, other industries, other occupations. If you take a person of reasonable intelligence and you throw them into an occupation for which they are not properly prepared, they're not bringing transferable skills and experience. If you throw a person again of reasonable intelligence into a challenging occupation and they're not properly prepared for it, it's going to be difficult, probably filled with a lot of mistakes, very stressful and it will be almost impossible, impossible for it not to be an emotional experience. This doesn't matter what the occupation is, whether it's trading or other skilled jobs, whether it's in manufacturing and service and management, sales, all kinds of different occupations. If it's a skill based occupation and you throw somebody in there and they're not trained and prepared for the job, it's going to be rough and it's going to be emotional. Most people when they get into trading, you know, they get into it, it's a rough time, it's an emotional ride, it's stressful as hell. And the problem isn't that the person, they have personal issues. Like I said, a lot of people come to me and they say what I need to fix is me. And it's like, no, here's the problem. You're trying to do a job that you're not properly prepared for. That's why it's so rough, that's why it looks easy, but it's way more challenging and tougher than it looks like it should be. It's because you're not properly prepared for it. There's perspectives and understandings and skills that you haven't been given and ways to approach the different tasks within trading. And that's what makes it tough. But here's the thing. So if you take a person reasonable intelligence, throw them in a job they're not prepared, it's going to be rough. If you take that same person and you properly train them and you prepare them for it, they're just going to go do their thing because they're going into it, ready for it, prepared for it, already able to deal with it, and they know it. The Turtle Trader experiment was the perfect example of this. Years ago. You've probably heard about it with Turtle Traders. They took people of a variety of backgrounds and then with a few short weeks of training, these people became very successful traders. Now granted, they had great teachers, but it proved the point that you don't have to be a gifted, naturally, you know, naturally gifted person from certain backgrounds. To be a successful trader, you just need the right training. And it's not the method. Having a good method helps, but the method is not the key. It's who you are as a trader. Are you able to mentally approach the whole matter correctly? Are you coming from a position of knowing and skill and ability and competence? And when you are, trading is no more difficult than any other job. You've probably done numerous things in your life that were much more challenging than trading, and you were able to do it because you got that. You developed the proper skills and understandings for that activity. Trading is no different. You just need good help. So this is one of my core beliefs about trading and about you as a trader, about good people that get into trading. And the reason that I do what I do is because. Because I know that there are a lot of good people that get into trading. They've got good motives. You probably want to do this because you want to provide a good lifestyle for yourself, your spouse, your family. You want to have a nice legacy to leave your posterity, your children, your grandchildren. You probably want to be generous with the wealth that you build and acquire. You want to support a church or different organizations or certain charities. I know that you're sincere and you're a good person and I want to help you achieve your goals. And that's why I do what I do, because I know from experience, from being a quality engineer, from being a trainer, and I've also just. It's my. In my nature, I've always sought to help and train other people ever since I was in grade school. And from then on, I can help other people through tutoring or help, you know, helping in study groups or whatever. That's always been my nature. This is no different. I see that there are good people trying to do something. You need some good help. That's why I'm here. Anyway, this is the first, first video in the series. Make sure that you, you know, when. When the other ones come out, go ahead and watch them. We're going to talk again about the different belief sets, you know, as far as beliefs about different things within trading, the different aspects regarding how beliefs, you know, are part of your day and your experience both with trading and with life. So Again, it's Brian McAvoy with Inside Out Trading. I hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you soon. Cheers.