Understanding How Beliefs Affect Your Trading Performance

Hi, Brian McAvoy with Inside Out Trading here. Today we're going to talk about a really fun topic. It's really important, though. Let's talk about beliefs. From a psychological aspect, beliefs are huge. And with trading, there's a variety of beliefs and it's really important that you take a look at the beliefs that you hold based on what you think, but also based on your actions beliefs. I find it an interesting topic because a lot of times we'll think we believe certain things, we hold certain things to be true, but if you watch how people act, a lot of times our actions indicate otherwise. I hate to do it, but it actually really true example. Because my mom was a devout Christian. She was. And she had a strength that was amazing. If she ran into a difficulty in her life, like when my dad died, she would pray about it and she handed it over and she was good. She truly believed in Christ. And you could see it in her actions. She. She didn't brag about it a lot. She wasn't verbal about it. But you could see interactions. I've known other Christians in my life where, yeah, they talk a good game, but you watch how they act in certain situations and it's like, no, they're not. They don't truly believe. Now, okay, that's a little bit of an extreme example. But like I said, it's important to pay attention to the difference between what a person says or what we think we believe versus our actions because our actions are really going to show what you truly believe. With trading, beliefs are super important as well. And there are beliefs about different things that are part of being a trader, that are important, that every now and then you step back and you say, wow, what, you know, what do I think? I believe what are things I think are true? But maybe when I take a look at my actions, wow, maybe I need to make some adjustments here. Maybe I've got some beliefs that are working against me. And so we're just going to talk about a handful of beliefs and would be really good. It's just this is not one where it's going to be a workshop. We're going to go through all this together. But this is one where we're going to bring this up so that in the privacy of your own home and on your own time with nobody around, you can go through this. Because this is a very personal matter. And so it's important. And I do this from time to time where, yeah, I'll just sit down and I'll list out certain beliefs and I'LL question them. And I wish you can remember who was said it said we question all our beliefs except the ones that we really believe. So it's really important to, again, not just see what comes up consciously when we're reflecting on this, but then we also sit back and say, okay, based on my actions, what does this indicate that I truly believe? And where this comes in applicable for traders is, first of all, what do I believe about myself as a trader? Do I believe that I'm a competent trader? Do I believe that I have all the knowledge and training that I need? Or maybe am I kind of being a driveway mechanic, a hack at this, where I'm jumping into it, thinking I can figure it out and I'm letting my ego get in the way and I'm denying myself the help that I need and I'm not pursuing the help that I need to get past this. I'm just, I'm letting my ego get in the way. My ego center saying, no, you can do this. Just keep trading, it'll work out, things will turn around. Or do I maybe need to step back and say, wow, maybe I'm not quite the trader that I need to be? So you got that aspect of it. You have your aspects about the markets. Some people, they, they're thinking the charts are just this abstract, whatever, but they're. And they talk a good game about what, what they think the markets are. And it's easy to say, yeah, you know, the markets, you know, it's the masses of people and computer algorithms and all that kind of stuff. But is the way you trade, it's that indicative of that? Do your behaviors align with that belief or are you believing it's almost like a game and like a video game and there aren't people on the other side of it and programs and stuff that you can take advantage of and that there is, well, another belief to go right along with this. You can sit there and say, well, you know, the markets, it's uncertain, you know all the uncertainty, you never know what's going to happen. Or do you actually hold a belief and act on, well, no, the markets aren't random. There is a level of uncertainty as far as where things are going to be at any given time. But the markets are not random. There is an order to the markets and you see that order in any chart you look at. If, if there was no order, if the markets were purely random, when you look at a chart, it would look like a scatter plot. There would be dots all over the place. But they're not price moves. Yeah, occasionally gas. But like I said, there is an underlying order to it because the markets are people in computer algorithms and there is an order to that and there is behavior to that. So again, take a look at what do you believe about the markets, what do you believe about yourself? Do you believe that you're worthy of success? Do you believe that trading is somehow inherently an occupation to be ashamed of because it's not quote unquote providing value to anybody? You're not exchanging a service or a good to anybody else that's solving a problem or making their lives better. You're just trading and making money. Do you have some belief about it that you know, okay, in some way this is a bad thing and maybe it reflects on you as a person. But anyway, what you want to do, take a look at beliefs about money, beliefs about trading, beliefs about yourself, beliefs about your abilities, beliefs about the challenges about trading, what it's really all about. Just kind of list them out as we can even do it like as a free writing exercise. But it's really good to examine our beliefs, what we think we believe, what are the things we think, think are true that may or may not be true. And the ones where it's like, well, more conscious observation, it's like, wow, this is something that based on my actions, it's apparent this is kind of what I believe. But that's, now that I'm paying attention to it, that's not true. And I need to counter that and not keep following that blindly. And so again, it's just an exercise in self reflection. But it's super important because you will act according to your true beliefs. And so if like, and one that like a lot of traders like to beat themselves up about it. So if I'm not worthy or it's a common accent, more common with entrepreneurs more so than traders, but you know, the whole I'm not worthy bit, do you really believe that? Do you? Or are you thinking, well yeah, I'm worth it? Like I said, look and see what your actions dictate to you and the way you've acted in certain situations and really just make sure that your beliefs actually do a lot, hopefully do align with reality and the ones that seem to possibly be limiting you and holding you back from doing things and living the life that you want. I mean this life is short. You only get one shot at this. It's not a rehearsal. If it's holding you back or limiting your life, maybe you want to question those beliefs. Now here's a really good exercise. I love this because I ran across it a while back in the book Law of Attraction. But the whole premise of the exercise is to, if you do hold a belief perhaps that you know something is not possible for you, this is an exercise to kind of crack it open the possibility in your mind to maybe allow for success. Here's the way it works. Basically, let's say, and I'll use an example outside of trading, let's say you're divorced and you're looking for love and but you've really been having a tough time with it. So you're holding some beliefs about maybe I'm not worthy, I'm not the kind of person that deserves a good woman or any of that kind of stuff. But then you can ask yourself and you make it's important not to include yourself what's called an allowing statement. And so what you want to do is you want to say, well, are there any guys that have found love that are no better looking or smarter or successful than me? Are there guys who found love last week anywhere in the world? Were there men who found love? Oh yeah. Is there anybody maybe in my country or even in my city the found love last year? Yeah. And so the whole point is, whatever it is you're thinking that you're not able to do or you're not allowed to do or somehow you're kept from it, ask the question, is anybody being successful at this? Not don't again, don't include yourself because this is one where we're trying to crack your subconscious. But this is one where it's called an allowing statement. And the whole point is to allow to. If you have a hard hardened belief that you're just, you're not the kind of person that know is allowed to have this or not capable of it. This is how you crack that belief and you begin to allow space for the possibility. And you say is anybody doing it anywhere? Oh yeah. Wow. Well, if somebody else can do it and here's the message to your subconscious without you putting yourself into it, it's important you you that your subconscious realizes hey, somebody else is able to do it. Oh, so maybe it is possible for me now. And so that's, this is one exercise that's really helpful as far as cracking limiting beliefs about yourself. So I hope this been helpful. If it has, give me a like and a subscribe down below and share with your friends if you think it'll help them. If you got. If you're struggling with your trading, you'd like to talk to me about it so we can figure out what's holding back. Best path forward to get past it all onto good, profitable fun trading. Swing by InsideOut Trading.com and book a call with me and we'll have a chat. See how to move you forward again. I hope this has been helpful. We'll talk to you soon. Cheers.