by Adrienne Toghraie, Trader’s Coach
When you repeat a thought or action over and over it forms a familiar groove in your mind and neurology also known as an anchor. For a trader the results of creating an anchor can be rewarding or diminish profits. Examples of anchors set are:
- How you hold a golf club or tennis racket
- All rituals
- When walking, opposite arms swinging to legs
- Patterns in speaking and interacting with people
- How you do almost anything on a regular basis
Examples of negative anchors for traders:
- Breaking a particular rule that you have set up as part of a predetermined plan
- Losing a great deal of money after steadily being profitable
- Making mistakes when tired, upset or at a certain time of day, week month, year
- Not letting profits run or not getting out of a losing trade
- Changing rules frequently
- Disorganization leading to lack of focus
Transferring training from sports
Bill was not what most people would call a brilliant man. His conversation lacked sophistication; he did not learn etiquette skills from his family. What Bill did learn from an early age that would eventually make him successful in earning profits was discipline.
Bill’s uncle was a fine carpenter of furniture. When Bill would go to his workshop his uncle would insist on certain rules such as, safety first and putting tools away where you found them and holding tools in a specific way to get the best results. What Bill did not realize at the time was that he was forming the habit of becoming disciplined by repeating patterns.
Later on in life Bill began to learn how to be a baseball player. Bill transferred his training and followed the rules of his baseball coach. He became an exceptional short stop. Bill had to leave high school early, because of his alcoholic father who needed help at his garage. He learned to be an exceptional mechanic, but knew that this was not what he wanted to do with his life. One of the customers of the garage introduced Bill to trading. He was hooked. This once disinterested student read everything he could about the markets.
When Bill’s father passed on having been in a car accident, Bill decided to become a trader. He sold the garage armed with the discipline skills that he learned from his uncle, playing baseball as well as when he was a mechanic. It was not long before Bill was making profits as a trader.
Bill tuned into one of my webinars and from there decided that he wanted to improve his skills not only in trading, but in life. He was one of the easiest traders to work with that I ever coached. The transformation in Bill has been nothing short of a miracle. It took a year, but now he is eloquent, elegant and an exceptional trader.
Repetition for better trading and more profit
There are basically two ways to get the benefit from repetition:
1. In real time by willing yourself to follow predetermined rules in a specific way.
The good thing about this is you are getting the practical experience. The bad thing is that it can take longer.
2. In your mind’s eye by willing yourself to follow those same predetermined rules. In other words, talking to yourself.
The good thing is that you can create discipline in a shorter period of time with many repetitions. The bad thing is that you do not have all of the sensations necessary for real time action.
Conclusion
Repetition is necessary in order to make thoughts and actions automatic. Your path will be easier if you plan the best repetition from the beginning, so you form the good conditioning that will support the best trading results. TradingOnTarget.com
