Mindset: being who we believe we can be

Discussions about personal psychology for the individual trader.
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damian
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Mindset: being who we believe we can be

Post by damian »

Hi all,

SirG and I (and others) started a discussion on another internet forum recently that I would like to continue in the best environment available, which in my opinion happens to be this new forum. I have brazenly decided to copy and paste between forums. I hope that in doing so I have not brought unwanted heat to this forum.

The final post from SirG in the above mentioned discussion is a good starting point to continue the discussion, it appears below and is vintage SirG :wink: :

********

Hi Damian-

You wrote:

“Regarding your comments on looking at how another successful trader may respond to the March draw down, I would love to do so but to be honest I do not know any other traders…….â€
Howard Brazzil
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Mindset: being who we believe we can be

Post by Howard Brazzil »

[quote]I believe that if we have desires beyond where we currently are… that we aren’t where we want to be, we have somehow limited ourselves.
In your minds eye, think of ... whoever it is that you “believeâ€
Dave S.
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Self-Talk

Post by Dave S. »

The above posts were excellent!

It seems another thing we all fail to be aware of at times, and to varying degrees, is the constant self-talk we all engage in. This is the little voice in our head that has a constant running commentary on everything we think, everything we're doing, and everything that's going on around us.

How often do we fall into negative self talk ("I can't do that!" "That's not possible/realistic/practical," etc)?

How often do we encourage our efforts ("I CAN do that!" "That's realistic for me," etc)?

What would (to use the above example) Tudor Jones be saying to himself?
Would he have spent time working on the type of self-dialogue that allows him to succeed in his goals?
Would he constantly be coaching and encouraging himself to achieve his goals?

Working on this idea of positive self-dialogue, I think, is a lot like training for an athletic competition. One keeps training, reviewing the training, enhancing the training, and slowly improving with constant practice, all the while visualizing the successful final outcome.
John D.
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Post by John D. »

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" New Testament

"A man's being attracts his life" Gurdjieff

"You are what you is" Frank Zappa

YOU ARE WHAT YOU REPEATEDLY DO.
-----------------------------------------
First You make your habits, and then they make you.
You become a slave to your constantly repeated acts.
What at first you choose, at last compels.

Your habits are either the best of servants or the worst of masters.
Your thoughts lead you on to a purpose,
your purposes go forth in action.

Your actions form your habits.
Your habits determine your character,
and your character fixes your destiny,

Once in motion, a pattern stays in motion.
---------------------------------------------
copyright 2002 Written by: MotivationMentor@aol.com
damian
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Post by damian »

I have always been a huge dreamer. I am sure I have written several stories in my head. Each time I am the main character.

I never really thought much of it, other than that I was perhaps a little self indulgent and I should spend less time dreaming and more time working.

Anyhow, over the years the stories I would write in my head tended to converge on the general themes of career, money, trading and having a fun life that was a little 'different' to most others.

As more time passed I found that in many senses, my stories were coming true. Not necessarily to the letter, but in general terms what I had been dreaming most intensely about started to take shape.

Without realising it I started to be more specific in my mental images to the stage where I had lived the life I wanted to live 1000 times over in my head. Little by little some of it has materialised.

It got to the stage where I would write these stories over and over in my brain so as to make them happen. when they did eventually happen many would comment on how happy I must have been. Of course I was happy, but it wasn't a surprise to me that I was in that current situation. So long as I knew the person would not think I was arrogant I would usually respond "yeah, no big deal, I was always going to do this". The truth was, in my head I had already lived several steps past the latest positive development in my life that had just taken place.

Obviously during my shortish life I have put in hard work and effort along the way amd made decisions that I thought would maximise the chances of my dreams coming true. It was not some mysterious power that just made the good stuff happen.

Having said this, my greatest partner in life so far has been the vision of me in the future, doing what I wanted. Damian (t+1), if you will. He has been a good partner to have.

I have often looked back and thought "hey Damian, you were just dreaming and not acting". It is a trap to let a dream satiate your desires. There are several aspect in my life that are simply not good enough and I was dreaming about fixing them in the past, but did not come to the party. I let Damian(t+1) down, I didn't live up to my end of the bargain.

I could have said all of the above in a few of my mottos:

"what one man can do, so can another... and better" + "see it then do it".

My story above also reminds me of a passage out of The Alchemist. I gave away my last copy to my younger brother, so forgive me if I get it a little wrong. It was something like "if you dream hard enough, the world will conspire to make your dreams happen". It reads far better than I can remember it, sorry.
Last edited by damian on Sun Jun 29, 2003 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jimmy S
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Post by Jimmy S »

Hi, Damian,
This is Jimmy. You helped me when I purchased Behold! last year. Thanks for sharing your experience of goal setting and using visualization in your mind to reach your goal. Well done. Napoleon Hill said “What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve!â€
damian
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Post by damian »

hi Jimmy S,

I didn't see your most in the flood of activity that has become this forum of late. Pretty cool, isn't it.

I remember helping you out with Behold! I hope everything turned out ok.

[About now would be the place to mention that as much I speak of Behold and evidently help other with info on the product, I am not at associated with Ntech etc. The fact is I just like helping out and being involved].

Regarding becoming what we believe: it is the only way to get to where you are going. However it must be accompanied by constructive action. This is were I sometimes fail. Too much think and not enough do. Other risks that I have found is that too much future think about where you want to go can distract you from where you are today.... and teh wheels can fall of the cart if you don't pay attention to the present (ie, ones current job for example). Today partially makes tomorrow.

cheers
damian
Jimmy S
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Post by Jimmy S »

Damian,

You were very helpful when I purchased Behold! I appreciate your help very much. I think it would be more appropriate to put our discussion about Behold under the topics of Behold.

To me being who we believe we can be is a journey of life and it is worth the effort.

Jimmy S
William
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Article by Mark Douglas

Post by William »

Learning Flawless Execution of a Trading System
by Mark Douglas

http://www.angusjackson.com/

Not sure if anyone has seen this article before but i thought it was a great read about system traders and some of the psychological obstacles that exist for system traders as well as strategies in overcoming some of the more common pitfalls.

Located in articles and publications section..
Bernd
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Post by Bernd »

:wink:
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