Trading on Target: How to Cultivate a Winner's State of Mind

OVERWHELMING YOUR NEURO-NETWORKING

A principal cause of emotional paralysis is the association we form with taking action under duress. Like Don, most traders have experienced situations in their youth when they were confronted with a crisis or a moment of great stress for which they were unprepared. If they were bewildered by powerful emotion, conflicting information, or a tremendous amount of sensory input from their environment, their likely reaction at that time was to freeze. They may have wanted to act but could not. Afterward, they replayed the experience over and over in their mind’s eye, reliving the feelings of fear and uncertainty. Then, they added the feelings of shame and distress for not having acted. Powerful emotions such as fear and embarrassment burn the experience deeply into the human psyche, forever associating a situation that is unexpected and stressful with an inability to act.

Actually, the deep freeze reaction is a form of self-defense in nature. Many animals, when faced with no immediate opening for flight or fight, will freeze in their tracks. This is not a great strategy in the path of an oncoming car traveling at 65 miles per hour. But, it clearly can have an advantage in nature, giving the potential victim the time to assess the situation and garner strength for escape. Unfortunately, it can be a financially fatal strategy for traders who must make timely trading decisions that can either make or lose a great deal of money with each tick of the second ...