The opening bell just sounded and you are putting on a trade. You’ve got your plan established…you’ll buy the demand level on the 60 minute chart of the NQ E-mini that you analyzed yesterday. The price action on the Globex chart is confirming the plan with an overnight low that coincides with the demand level that you established. You have your entry, target, stop and exit planned. After you enter you become gripped with anxiety and fear because the price action is inching toward your stop and is falling beyond the levels that you picked. You begin to second guess your plan and in a fit of doubt you exit the trade as the tick momentarily went to break-even. As you sit on the sidelines, you are feeling some temporary relief because you are no longer anxious, but a little later you’re feeling really stupid as you watch the price action turn up just where your analysis and plan had indicated. For the next 15 minutes you watch as it hits what would have been your target. You “would have had” a nice profit, but your self-doubt has caused you to “trade-not-to-lose” again; and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory – again!
Like most emotions, doubt is normal. It is when doubt takes over your mind and influences behavior that you must watch out for … and you must be careful as this could be foreshadowing a much more dangerous core issue. Larry Wilson in his book “Play to Win” asks whether your orientation to life is a play to win strategy or playing not to lose. Allow me to briefly explain. A playing not to lose strategy is based on the need to remain in your comfort zone and constantly look for temporary emotional relief by giving in to impulsive behavior and hoping you get the results you want. Things must come easily when playing not to lose. People with this strategy are constantly looking for the magic bullet or the quick fix that will create results out of thin air with no regard for their development. The philosophy of playing to win on the other hand is about the notion that… Continue Reading
