All serious daring starts from within…Harriett Beecher Stowe
Sometimes, it takes a lot longer to get anywhere near the truth. In this case, it took nearly one month of phone calls and e-mails.It all started with a phone call.
Jerry (not his real name) phoned me and talked non-stop for nearly 30 minutes about how much he knew about trading and how great his plan was.
Things that make one go …..Hmmmm? No one calls to tell me how well they are doing.People call for help, and I couldn’t hear any cry for help from Jerry.
“Jerry, why are you calling me?If you want help from me, please send me your trading plan and trading journal and then let’s see? Please stop talking and send me the stuff? Do you want my help?Then I implore you to stop talking and listen for two minutes.”
After some nervous laughter and vague commitment, the call ended, and the e-mail saga began.
Jerry had spent over 3,000 hours watching one particular currency market. He claimed to know that market “better than anyone else.” He added that there was no reason to keep records because almost every trade that set up according to his plan was a successful trade. Moreover, since he spent so much time watching this market, he had a “gut” feel for how it was going to move. He compared his “results” with those of some of the best-known traders working today, and said that if I overlaid his plan against theirs, his would be at least as good and probably better.
“Good Lord, Jerry! Please tell me what is REALLY going on?You know everything about this market.You reject every suggestion. You don’t need my help, and you certainly don’t need to brag to me about what a great trader you are.”
That comment set in motion a deluge of mails, including a new twist. Jerry was now sending me phone numbers to reach him during the day and in the evening, including when he was at family gatherings and vacations.None of this made sense, but the urgency from him was so compelling that there had to be more—much more-that I was not seeing.
“Jerry, please. I think we have gone as far as we can go here.You are doing well, you know everything, and you won’t listen to guidance. You don’t need me.”
Then it happened.At long last—the truth began to dribble out.
Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth…Arthur Conan Doyle
Despite thousands of hours watching this one market and all of his “fabulous signals,” he had never made a trade in real time with real money-not once. As soon as he saw one, he did something to distract himself. These avoidant activities included looking away, walking around outside, answering e-mail, washing the dishes, eating, calling someone on the phone or just sitting there in a “frozen” state. He described in intricate detail the rush of emotions that went through him when he saw a trade setting up. The feelings ranged from euphoria to mild anxiety, then sheer panic because he felt he would have to “pull the trigger” and actually make a real trade.
He was completely frustrated with his inability to make even one trade and sat in disgust as all the “great trades moved in my favor without me.” He described himself as being “locked up” and “paranoid to the max.” The only way to relieve the tension he felt when there was a “perfect” signal was to let the trade pass and then sit there and wait for another one to “set up.” As the next trade began to form, the emotional roller-coaster started again. This process repeated itself until he just gave up and walked away. He described the situation as “all messed up.”
“Well that’s progress, Jerry.At least you admit that you are in sheer unadulterated rat brain hell. So what do you think would help you?”
The more I questioned him, the more combative and angry he became.He started watching this particular market at around 2:30 AM EST, and there were at least three to four “profitable” trades generated during that time. I offered to be with him on the phone in the early hours of the morning when his fabulous trades were setting up. I suggested that we watch together so that I might be able to help him overcome his fear and anxieties —and actually take a trade. Total resistance.He refused.No one could help him because he knew everything.
“Jerry, we have come to the end of the line here.I wish you every success, but please stop writing and calling me? I cannot help you because you do not want to help yourself.It all starts and ends with you, Jerry.How many psychiatrists does it take it change a light bulb? One.But the light bulb must want to change.”
Jerry refused all help. He wanted to avoid making real trades. He wanted and needed to feel both doing and not doing the same thing over and over again.Sadly, Jerry was allowing himself to be driven insane. Jerry was on his way to getting a TV reality show:Rat Brain Gone Wild!
He needed to experience the rush of the feelings that came from thinking about but not doing anything .He wanted to boast to everyone about his great system and how many awesome signals he was spotting. He was compelled to compare his method to some of the greatest in the world. He did not, however, want to trade. He wanted to pretend to trade and then use every avenue to convince himself that he was a great trader without ever making or losing one penny as a trader. He wanted to talk the talk but not walk the walk.
It makes no difference how good your trading system is on paper. What matters is putting that system to the test in real time with real money. What counts is the ability to put years of study and thousands of hours of practice into actual trades. Win or lose, trading is about taking risks; it’s about feeling the emotions, going with them and through them, then using the rational brain to make a trade. It’s about falling down and getting up again and again.
Great traders have courage and take personal responsibility for their action or inaction. Great traders walk their talk. Great traders actually trade!
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History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived; but, if faced with courage, need not be lived again…Maya Angelou
Thanks and Good Trading!
Janice
Janice Dorn, M.D., Ph.D.
www.thetradingdoctor.com
