From Ruth Barrons Roosevelt again: Getting what you want:
One thing I have learned is to never ask why a person does something, but to rather ask how. Why just gets bogged down in a lot of rationalizations, buries them in their pain, and keeps them doing the thing they don't want to do. Instead I ask how. How gives me a clue as to ways to reverse what they're doing.
"How is it you were never able to stop smoking?"
"Well, I just say to myself, 'It would be so nice to have a cigarette.'"
(omitted weight loss desire example used here also)
.....
"How do you keep yourself from trading your winning system?"
"Well, I think to myself, 'What if I lose?'"
"How do you decide to violate your rules and add to a losing position when you're already under water?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure it will turn around, and I can fight my way back to even."
Each of these people has given me the blueprint for the problem. Each of these people thinks that the problem lies in insufficient will power. Each day they resolve to do better the next day. Each day they repeat the behavior. I know, but they don't realize, that willl power alone will never take them out of their problem.
.....
No matter how determined you are to do certain things, if your imagination doesn't support your resolute commitment, you're in trouble. And the more determined you are, the worse it will be.
The smoker will contiue to smoke. The overwieght person will continue to overeat. The one trader still won't pull the trigger. The other trader will still overtrade in a losing position.
Why? The smoker is imagining how great it would be to have a ciagrette. The overweight person is imagining all kinds of delicious food (the rich hot fudge sundae with the creamy vanilla ice cream and the whipped cream and the salted nuts). The one trader is imagining how awful it would be to take a loss. With solid determination and yet with a vivid imagination, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't get him to put on a trade. The other trader is imagining the market turning around and a way out of the mess. Why shouldn't he just add a few more here?
There is a way out, however. You can use your will power to direct your imagination. The smoker can imagine being healthy, poised, and comfortable as a nonsmoker. The overweight person can imagine being fit and trim and looking great in some new clothes. The trader who can't pull the trigger can imagine the trade going his way. (What if I win?) The trader who doesn't follow her rules and adds to a losing position can imagine getting out of the trade and finding a better opportunity to make money. Or she could imagine what would happen if the market keeps going against her.
......
(using autosuggestion)
As a trader you can translate (it) to, "every day in every way I'm becoming a better and better trader." And imagine the ways in which you can become a better trader.
For it to work for you, however, you need to align your imagination with your affirmation. It won't work to will yourself to be a better trader even as you imagine the markets going against you or yourself getting out of control and consequently losing all your money.
Basically.......that if your will power and your imagination are working together, there will be a multiplier effect in enabling you to do what you want. If your will power and imagination are in disagreement, not only wil your imagination win, but also there will be a squared effect on your determination in keeping you from what you want.
If you want to follow a system that you have verified is profitable over time, and you imagine it making money for you, and you set your intention to follow it, there will be a multiplier effect on your ability to replicate that system in the market. However, if you determine to follow the system by trading it, yet imagine it losing money for you, you will not be able to consistently apply that system in your trading: and the degree to which you commit to following it will simply square your inability to do so because your imagination is working against your will power.
What do we learn from this? We need to put our imagination and will power on the same team. How do we do this? We use our will power to direct our imagination in the same direction that we will. Sounds simple enough. Unfortunately, it isn't always so simple.
Consider a balance beam. If you lay a four by four-inch balance beam on the floor, and ask people to walk from one end to the other, it's easy. Most people will instinctively focus their vision and attention on the far end of the beam and walk confidently and casually until they reach their target.
But put that beam thirty or forty feet into the air with no net underneath and the task has changed immeasureably. The goal becomes not falling rather than walking to the end. It's the same physical act, but the consequences are vastly different. Fear and danger enter the equation. It's difficult not to imagine falling.
Consider the difference between paper trading and real time money trading. You have the same probabilities, but you have different consequences. This is for real, and you could make and lose real money. Do you imagine making money or losing money? Depending on how you run your imagination---towards profit or away from loss---may effect whether you overtrade or undertrade or even not trade at all.
Sometimes it's hard not to imagine losing when real money is on the line. Let a little pessimism slip in, and before you know it, you're imagining the worst despite the probabilities. You let one loss lead you to imagine a second loss and a third. You let circumstances control your thoughts instead of the other way around.
Consider the golfer who lets the first few holes or even the first swing control his thoughts. If he does well, he takes on a relaxed, confident and focused frame of mind. But if he doesn't do well in the beginning, his concentration is shattered. He allows himself to be the victim of the first few holes rather than managing his mind and using it to influence subsequent events and the rest of the game.
I see this often with traders. They become superstitious about the first trade or the first few trades of the day. They let the first few losing trades bring them bad luck for the rest of the day. Instead they could say, "I'm glad I got that out of the way." And start to look for winning trades. I tell myself, "if the morning is difficult, the afternoon will be sweet." Some traders start the day with a win or a few wins, and they begin to imagine giving up their profits. They often stop trading just before the really big win comes along. Fortunately, we have free will and with that we can direct our imagination and make positive interpretations of events. The bad trade is out of the way. An even bigger winner is just ahead.
The golfer can imagine his ball flying true to the pin, or veering into the woods. He can choose whether to think about making a putt or just getting it close. The trader can imagine the rest of the day going well, or she can feel jinxed......
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