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Hello all,
My little contribution concerning fear and discipline:
It is important to notice that discipline does not prevent fear:
Discipline is an effective tool to help overcome the resistance offered by all
sorts of fears, however it does not eliminate fear. In fact one often builds
discipline by using the fear of breaking one's discipline. Like drugs, it helps
fighting the disease, but alone it does not suppress the very reasons of the
fears that plague you. It mutes them.
Fear itself is the result of the lack of trust in the future, or of the lack of
understanding of the flow of things. In other words, without the capacity to
let go of everything, including your trades AND your potential success or
failure in this business, you will try to retain some control over things, and
as a result will no longer be one with yourself or the markets, will encounter
resistance as you become disconnected. Whatever you can't let go, be it your
goal to become a top trader, will have you become a prisoner of it, and will
induce fear as to what happens if you don't reach or get what you are holding
on to.
To lose one's fear, there is no other way but to accept, or even more -
appreciate- loss of control over the outcome, and to accept this outcome as
what is best for you, even if it is failure. Acceptance is not resignation, it
is realizing this is the only way, like realizing one cannot continuously
breathe in without ever exhaling... Only with such deeply rooted fundamental
knowledge can you act in full trust and confidence. It is also at this time you
will:
- realize you don't need to look for the holy grail anymore, because you most
likely have all the tools you need already, and so since almost day one.
- realize total and absolute discipline becomes a natural, you wouldn't see it
any other way
- be able to start developing and integrating your intuition to your systematic
trading, to become a fully rounded and highly effective trader.
Hope the wording is all right and will help clarify things a bit more. Those
things are not a given to translate into written and logical arguments...
Gwenn
ramon a écrit:
> Hi Dave and Ray R
>
> I'm joining this late but as Ray said this thread is important.
>
> I agree:
>
> to succeed we need sound money management
> and discipline to adhere to our plan. I also agree that
> all traders need to come to grips with fear.
>
> Where I differ, is with the belief that the key to overcoming fear
> is discipline- that may be true in areas other than trading
> but not so for sphere of activity.
>
> Ultimately fear is managed by acceptance that losses are
> inevitable and that the mkt can and usually does do anything.
> In other words we have no control over the mkt will do.
> Adherence to our trading plan (discipline) will come naturally
> if we accept that for any individual trade, loss can happen.
>
> The acceptance I am talking about is not just intellectual
> acceptance but also the emotional acceptance. This allows
> a trader to function when the unexpected happens.
>
> Many traders I have met give lip service to this acceptance
> but that is all that it is - lip service. There is a world of
> difference between:
>
> enhancing mkt knowledge because I want to perceive
> opportunities the mkt is offering and which, but for the new
> distinctions, I would not see and
>
> enhancing mkt knowledge in an attempt to avoid
> the pain that loss brings.
>
> In the latter case I have failed to accept that loss is inevitable and
> I am doomed to fail as a trader.
>
> In summary:
>
> I agree that money management and discipline are critical
> to success. As Dave says, run from anyone who advocates
> trading without either. On the other hand I believe that
> the main tool to solve fear is the acceptance (in every
> sense) that loss is inevitable. In this way we define loss as not
> being painful and we thus manage our fear of the mkts.
>
> regards
>
> ray
>
> R Barros
> 101/25 Market Street
> Sydney NSW 2000
> Australia
>
> Voice: 61 2 92673470
> Fax: 61 2 92673478
> E-Mail: rbarros@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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