TRADING PSYCHOLOGY
Are You Tripping Yourself Up?
You And Money
by Adrienne Laris Toghraie
Do you honestly and truly want to make money?
If you are a serious trader, you
are in the business to make money. If you for some reason do not want
to make money trading, you will sabotage your trading so you lose money,
or do not make as much. As a result, you will find yourself out of the
trading business, probably sooner than later.
This relationship between trading and money is axiomatic; it is easy
for traders to acknowledge the relationship, but not to adhere to it. For
traders, the problem arises when the simple issue of making money becomes
complicated, as it often does. Over time, the desire to make money can
easily become subordinate to any number of important issues in a trader's
life. When the goal of making money loses its vitality and influence, trading
results suffer.
The relationship to money is complicated because money becomes a metaphor
for many, if not all, of the important issues in a trader's life. If a
trader thinks about his success, he invariably measures it by the money
he makes. If he thinks about his personal power and influence, he again
thinks about money.
Money has the power to create a trader's environment and shape his relationship
with his family. It can determine the neighborhood in which he or she lives,
the friendships he makes, the way he votes, and the vacations he takes.
It influences his health and the level of stress in his life. More often
than not, money greatly influences a trader's life.
What ultimately determines a trader's relationship to money is the way
he talks about it to himself. The nature of that inner conversation determines
how much money a trader makes, as well as how long he stays in the game
and how well he plays.
BELIEFS ARE IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT
What drives a trader's inner conversation about money? His beliefs.
Beliefs and inner conversations create the minute-to-minute practices and
behaviors that influence everything a trader does. For example, many years
ago I worked with a trader named Tom, who believed that money was the root
of all evil. For him, making money translated into being evil. This
belief caused him to talk himself into taking actions that limited his
ability to make money.
Adrienne Laris Toghraie is founder and head of both
Trading on Target and Enriching Life seminars. She may be reached at Trading
on Target, 100 Lavewood Lane, Cary, NC 27511, 919 851-8288,or via e-mail
at www.tradingontarget.com.
Excerpted from an article originally published in the January
2001 issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine.
All rights reserved. © Copyright 2000, Technical Analysis, Inc.
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