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

THE PARADOX

To be successful, a trader must create patterns that are reproducible. These patterns need to become so familiar that they can be followed automatically. Just like everyone else who is human, a trader does this because our neurology is comfortable with patterns. We unconsciously reproduce patterns all day long: We blink our eyes, our hearts beat, our arms swing in opposition to our feet when we walk, our bodies move according to predictable patterns, and so on. These patterns allow us to feel normal and that everything is okay.

For a trader to be successful, he must also create in his existence on-going patterns of behavior and thinking that are unconscious. The problem for traders is that they also have a built-in conflict or paradox. Within their routine, they must also have the kind of flexible thinking that allows them to adjust to subtle changes in the marketplace and fluctuating conditions while seeing opportunities that others miss. If this kind of flexibility does not co-exist with an ongoing routine, the markets will leave a trader behind.