Belief, Trust, Faith -- the Integral Foundation of a Rock Solid Trading MInd
Rande Howell argues that traders sabotage themselves by doubting their method under pressure, triggering stress that breaks their plan. Real faith is practical: confidence you can execute a tested strategy when it matters. Without self-trust, you lose your edge.
Chapters
You know, what happens with most traders is they actually have a crisis of trusting themselves.
Do they really trust themselves to be able to execute and do what they know needs to be done? Can they plan their trade and then trade their plan? Can they do that or.
Does something else happen? Does trust break down in your ability to manage things and suddenly you start doubting your methodology, you start doubting yourself.
And before you know it, you're no longer trading your plan.
Something takes over, you get hijacked, and the trading mind that can actually perform is gone. This, friends, I want to introduce you to a different idea. This whole notion of trusting in yourself, believing in yourself, is really about, gosh, how do I say this?
It's about having faith.
What I want you to do is take a moment and step back from all.
The triggering that happens when you hear the word having faith. I want you to step back out of religion, blind faith, really crazy stuff, black and white thinking. I want you to step back and really look at faith. I want you to look at faith more like.
Recognizing that you can trust.
Yourself in the midst.
Of upheaval, in the midst of the unknown, and that you can trust that your methodology will work time and time again and that you can work your methodology, you can trust yourself in the thick of it when everything else is done. It gives a totally different notion of what faith is and what we really discover in trading, particularly with beginners, novices, people who burn out, experienced traders who are marginal, and even traders who get to a moment of consistent profitability that can't get to the next level.
It's what's really happening, friends, is a crisis of faith.
What happens when the going gets tough? What happens when there is no certainty of outcome? What happens when you have to trust your methodology? You have to trust yourself to know that if you stay the course, things are going to be okay. What happens then? This, my friends, is faithful.
Not faith from some religion.
But faith in yourself as a human being.
Do I trust that I'm adequate? Do I trust that I can withstand the pressures of uncertainty and stay the course? Do I trust that.
This is the key? Friends, the truth is, as most traders discover very quickly, is that they don't have faith in themselves. They don't trust themselves under pressure. They've made a lot of excuses about that untrust. They do all sorts of things, but ultimately, when it comes down to it, in the level of performance, what they discover this one key factor.
They do not believe in themselves.
Listen to those words. They do not believe in themselves.
To be Able to manage themselves in the midst of uncertainty and engage in certainty and to know that it's going to be okay.
What arises instead as self doubt?
The moment self doubt arises and you know what this stuff is like. Whether or not it's at entry, going, are you sure? Are you sure? Whether or not it's at exit, going, you know, get out now, get out now before all that money is taken back from you. What you discover is very simple. Is there self doubt.
About, oh my God, can I do it? Can I do it? Can I do it? Am I adequate? Am I worthy? Do I, do I matter enough? Am I powerful enough to be able to manage this moment?
My promise to you, if you get in that existential fight.
The autonomic nervous system is going to trigger to fight flight. Your heart rate is going to zoom up, stress hormones are going to start pulsing through your body.
And you're going to be cooked.
What happens in those moments of uncertainty.
What has to occur within the traitor is a deep solid rock of faith that says, you know something, I've been here before.
I know what it's like. I can withstand this. I know my methodology works. I know that I work in this situation. I believe.
That I can manage the uncertainty. Whether or not it's to victory or to a loss, I don't know. But I do know this. I know.
That in the midst of it, in the mix of all this stuff.
I trust myself to manage myself so that I am bringing the mind into this moment that produces the possibility of winning.
Friends.
That's everything in trading. Can you do that?
Self doubt shows up, suddenly faith disappears. If you learn how to produce that kind of faith rooted in experience of trust, you know, hey, I've been in tough places before. I can manage this. We're going to tough it out. We're going to move through this. Not like some manly man, but no, a person tested, tested in battle and knows they have faith in their skills that they're going to get them through.
When you have that, when you have faith in your methodology, you know this stuff.
Produces the situation that extracts capital from the markets. You've seen it in simulation, you've seen it in back testing. You may have seen it in good runs with yourself, but the true factor is not faith in your method, it's faith in yourself. Do you go, okay man, yeah, I know trading is about uncertainty. I know it's about losing. Well, I also know it's about staying the course. And the moment I step out of that course, I'm no longer Bringing the mind to manage game theory profitably. I'm bringing a mind where the casino wins.
Friends, this is it.
And I leave you with this question. Do you have faith in yourself? Do you have trust in yourself? Do you have belief in yourself tested that you can stay the course when things are going haywire?
That's the mark of professional trader. It's going to happen. You ultimately learn today, well, okay, I'm minimizing losses, you know, yeah, I can't win everything. And then no. 3 to get really just absolutely been out of shape. The point is though, do I trust, do I believe in myself that I can maintain order of the self that manages my performance?
The winners, the losers, at that point take care of themselves. Because you've brought a mind that has an edge that allows your methodology to produce the edge.
That it needs to have in the real game of trading. That's how it's done. Friends, if you want to learn more about how to produce the trust, the belief in the self that produces a faith and your ability to perform under pressure, come to my trader State of mind. Read more articles Read the article from this month. Look at the upcoming workshop that's associated with this. Get the free book. Learn about how you can develop the mind.
That you bring to trading that can manage performance.
That's the big thing that's missing in traders today. And the key is, do you really want to produce success in trading or do you want to be right?
It's a big deal. I wish you well. Take care and come to the website. Let's talk. Take care.
