An Inner Calm And Focused Space
Investing and trading is 50% learning and maintaining good
skills, as well as technique. The other half is controlling emotions, or what I
call “being centered.” To me, being centered is to have an inner emotional
space that remains calm and constant. This is a place where you are always
calm, positive, and able to focus. It is important to work on developing this,
because it will serve in good stead in other aspects of your life as well as
trading.
It is having a
well-defined personal center that provides an "eye in the storm" so
to speak. The stock market is full of distractions and is a complex
multi-layered environment. If you can develop a well-defined personal center
then no matter what happens or how unusual an event seems you can return to
that calm space and think positively, rationally, and with logic rather than
emotion.
It
requires effort to incorporate this into everyday life and starts at the
beginning of each waking day, when you rise and say to yourself, "It's
great to be alive.” Live each day positively and as if it was the only one.
Compliment individuals you meet in the morning, because saying something kind
to others creates a positive mood for everyone. End each day with positive thoughts.
Compliment your spouse, appreciate your children and grandchildren, enjoy the
fact that you are alive and well, capable of tackling the challenges that lay
before you tomorrow. Most people do not appreciate what they have until they
lose it.
Take pride in the tasks of investing and trading. Keep a
work space environment neat, and well organized. Treat it like a job. Keep
accurate investing and trading notes. Most individuals derive a good deal of self-esteem
from their work. However investors and traders can make the mistake of placing self-esteem
alongside the bottom line of points gained. A person doesn’t sit at their desk
in an office and stop at 10 am to think, “Wow! I just made $187 so far today.”
So why do that with your investing or trading job?
Sure it’s important to make money. However self-esteem
from work comes not so much from the money earned, but rather from doing each
part of a job well done. For example a small business owner takes pride in
their business services offered, quality support for customers, or a product
they have designed. An artist is driven to paint or sculpt not because they
think it will make a lot of money, but because they derive great pride and self-esteem
from their creations.
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Summary
So think of your investing and trading along the lines of self-esteem
for a job well done. When taking the TechniTrader Methodology Essentials
course, make time to fill out the chart analysis forms and write down your
thoughts in the trading journal along with the numbers from futures and scans.
Take pride in each aspect of the work day. I believe you will find that your
bottom line increases on its own.
Regardless of your trading style whether its Intraday, Day,
Velocity, Swing, Position Trading, or Long-term Investing learning how to read
Stock Charts is a critical skill. When you can interpret a Stock Chart
correctly you will be able to anticipate the direction the stock will take, how
long the run will sustain, and how fast the stock will move. With this
information you can determine the correct trading style to use, the strategy to
use, the correct entry price, stop loss placement, and your exit strategy
before ever entering a stock.
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Trade Wisely,
Martha Stokes CMT
Chartered Market Technician
Instructor and Developer of TechniTrader® Stock and Option Courses
TechniTrader DVDs with every course.
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