Trading Psychology: You Have More Control Than You May Think

I want to talk to you today about something that's really important because with trading and, you know, it's just you and the markets and it's just you and your computer, and it can get to where, you know, you're really feeling just kind of subject to the whims of the markets. And, you know, especially if things haven't been going well, you can just feel kind of like subject to life. And people. I'm bringing this up because a lot of people come to me and they're struggling and they're feeling kind of helpless. And, you know, at some point, you know, they want to say, well, you know, I can't control what the markets do. You know, the uncertainty of the markets and this or that. And the thing is, there's something really important for you to understand, and this is an empowering thing, is understand no matter what's going on in your life, you have more of a degree of control over your life than you may think. If things aren't going well in your trading right now, you don't have to continue doing everything the same way that you have been. You don't have to go through every day the same as you have up until now. You can choose to change what you're doing and really well, I guess the main lesson is you need to look at first what you can control and what you can't. You can't control the markets, but you can control yourself. You can control what you focus your thoughts on, how you choose to feel, you know, whether you're going to be just, you know, generally, are you going to feel good today or are you going to be kind of stressed? You can choose that. And you can choose what you focus on. You can focus on your problems and the things that go wrong, or you can focus on, you know, things to appreciate or what you'd like to have in your life at any given moment during the day. You can. You can choose to, you know, have control over yourself and your mind and your emotion, mental and emotional state. I mean, odd as this sounds one day, and this was years ago, back when I was in high school, just kind of, you know, hanging out, waiting to go into work. I was working in a restaurant at the time. And so it's a Saturday, and I'm just kind of chilling and all day long I'm just feeling tired and it's just, man, I just. I don't have any energy and at one point, and I don't want. I don't know what brought it to mind, but I'm laying there and it's like, I'm tired of feeling tired. And just with that simple decision, I felt better. And it was weird because I realized it was like, well, I was just letting this thing kind of happen, and I wasn't realizing that I actually had control over it and that I could choose something different. It's not like the world is out there and you're just subject to it. You really can't choose what goes on in your day. If you're trading and trading sucks and it's just not fun anymore, you can do something else. You can take the day off. You can take your life in a different direction. You can make it. You can make. I mean, every day we make tons of decisions. Literally every day we're making tons of decisions. We're deciding. We're making the same decisions that we have every day up until then. I mean, for example, back when I was married, one day, my wife and I were talking about things, and we've been going through an interesting period. And I said, yeah, you know, the last so many years, we've been, you know, every day we just. We've decided to stay married, and the day may come that, you know, we make a different decision. And that day did come, and. But it was wild because for thousands of days prior to that, 10, well, it's almost 20 years, roughly, had been making the same decision every day to stay married. And then the day came to make a change in a different direction. Just like prior to trading, before you ever started trading, you were making different decisions every day. Then one day you decided to start trading. And so if you want to do something different again, if it's not enjoyable for you, if you want to write a book, you want to start a business, you want to become an artist, whatever it is you want to do on any given day, you can choose to change the course of your life. And it's really as simple as making the decision and recognizing, okay, yes, you do have control over yourself. You do have a ton of control over what you do. It's really, you know, what limitations are you putting on yourself now, assuming that you want to stay with your trading and you do want to make it work. Okay, cool. But again, understand, you're where you're at because of the decisions you've made and the commitments that you've held, and you can choose differently in the future. I read this one book not too long ago, really good book called Conscious Luck. It was a great book, but one of the exercises in it is where you basically and you have to write this down. But you say, you know, I've created the life that I have through the commitments that I've held. I now choose to create a different life through choosing new commitments or something to that effect. And it's a really excellent exercise, but it's one to recognize, yeah, I'm still in this. I am where I am because of my own choices. And I can choose differently, really, at any given time that I want, I can choose different values, I can choose different commitments, I can choose different actions and a different focus. And, heck, even if you don't choose to do anything differently, you can just say, I want to look at things differently and maybe appreciate what I have more. Instead of only seeing what sucks, I want to see what there is to appreciate just so I can feel differently about how things are. Again, you can choose how you feel and what you focus on. So if you're feeling kind of subject to the world, feeling a little helpless, you wanting to blame anything, take responsibility for what you do have control over, and then decide, yes, I do have control over this. And the things that you don't have control over, stop worrying about them. And whether you choose to let them have control over you again is a choice that you make. Those external things, you may not control them, but you do also choose whether or not they control or influence you. And you can choose to have them not do that anymore. So, anyway, I just wanted to share this with you because, like I said, it's easy to get kind of caught up in things and feel like, wow, you know, just because this is the way things have been, that. That equals the future. No, you can change your future with a single decision on any given day, in any given moment. And so, you know, if you recognize that, again, it can be very freeing because if your trading hasn't been working, you can choose. Okay, well, this hasn't been working. Maybe I'll try a different approach. Maybe I'll, you know, instead of just, you know, beating my head on the rock, I'll get some help. I'll listen to some podcasts or whatever. But again, choose to do things differently and approach things differently. And maybe if you're. If you've been losing money, stop trading with real money until you can get it figured out so at least you're not losing money anymore. And then it reduces that stress. So you always have. On any given day. We make thousands of decisions throughout the day. We really do. And just becoming conscious of that fact and the fact that, yes, you can, you know, again, make different decisions. Cool. That's very freeing. And so if you'd like some help, you know, sorting through this, you know, and you want somebody to talk to about it because again you, you know, you decided you you do want to stick with your trading. Cool. So my inside out trading.com book a call with me. We can discuss, you know, what's going on with you and help you work through, you know, whatever it is that's on your mind, what's trouble troubling you, holding you back from, you know, really enjoying your life and particularly your trading and see about getting you on a better path. Anyway, hope this been helpful. If it has, give me a like and subscribe down below. Of course share this with your friends and yeah again swing by Inside Out Trading. If you want to book a call with me, great. If not, there's some free resources there to help you with your trade. Talk to you soon. Cheers.