GETTING OUT OF THE TRAP AND BACK ONTO THE GREEN
Although the allure of perfection is a very powerful one, as we have seen, it is possible to loosen its grip on a trader’s life. There are four steps to getting out of the perfection trap:
1. The first step in escaping the perfection trap, of course, is the recognition that you are in its possession. As you read this article, did you see yourself in it? Do you recognize your own need to be perfect, to have the “perfect things” in your life?
2. If you feel that you have a problem with perfection, take an honest assessment of your own perfection trap:
- How long have you been in it?
- What makes you feel that you need to have perfection in your life (where did it come from)?
- How do you apply it to yourself? To your trading? To the significant others in your life?
- How does it affect your trading? What would change in your trading if you stopped trying to be perfect and just focused on following your trading methodology?
- What are you getting from trying to be perfect—what is the payoff for you? Is it a sense of being in control? Of being more worthy of love and admiration? Of reducing fear of loss and pain?
3. Once you have looked at the underlying causes and the nature of your own perfection trap, write a list of the things in your life that it has cost you. What have you given up? For example:
- Peace of mind
- Tolerance and/or unconditional love of the people closest to you
- Friends, family, and children
- Enjoyment of the process of trading ...
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