Where Ego Dares #4: Power of the Mind

In the previous post on Where Ego Dares series, I postulated how our dominant natural mind can weave havoc on our trading success by interfering with our ability to see the path the price action.is trying to tell us.  Our “need-to-be-right” natural mind only sees what it wants the price “should” be instead of seeing the trend of the actual price action itself.  This can create a dilemma for trader/investor alike if the money being used for stock market investment is not meant to be tied up like long-term real-estate investment.

Don’t get me wrong, the natural mind does not get to be where it is without reaping huge benefits for society as a whole.  It is through our natural mind that we are where we are in our technology advancement.  Our “need to be right” drives us to excel in many fields of study ranged from building a better mouse-trap to finding a cure to a mutated influenza.  Thus, it is no wonder our minds are preprogrammed by our society since birth to thrive in the “need-to-be-right” mode.

As you know by now, the ego  not only exercises control over our other thought process but also thrive to exercise control over another human thought process or group of human thought process.

How can one human exert so much control over another (or a whole country)?

Oop! We are getting off the tangent here.

Let’s get back to the trading world, how can we prevent the natural mind from interfering with our trading mind?  How do we effectively train our trading mind in the present of our natural mind?

To answer the questions, we need to understand the power of the mind.

Let’s go back to the basic:

Mind = continuous thought process

Now add some juice and you get:

Power of the Mind = continuous thought process x intensity

Remember the Power of Positive Thinking?

“Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better”

How ’bout The Secret (as in The secret laws and principles of the universe)?

aka The law of attraction.

The above two systems of thought require you to dial up the intensity of your thought process in order to be effective.

Are they effective?

It depends.

“Depend on what?”  you asked.

Let me give you a personal example of what the power of mind can do for you so you can understand what I mean by “depend”.

A group of us decided to hike down the Grand Canyon for a weekend trip.  I was the one responsible for bringing the tent. Hiking down the trail to the bottom of the canyon was a walk in the park since it was all downhill.  However, on the way back up after a day of rest at the bottom, the journey was one of life and death.  First, we didn’t bring enough food.  We had enough for one light meal of breakfast before our hike back to the top.  Seeing how quickly we were to hike down the trail from top to bottom, we figured it would add a few more hours to get back up to the top.

A few more hours was about right, what we neglected in our calculation was that the energy our body burned on our way up was x-times more than it burned on our way down.  Each one of our group was struggling to get to the top at our own pace without enough food; since I was the one carrying the heavy tent, I became the last one in the line of our group.

After making my way to 2/3 of the trail with 1/3 more to reach the top, my body was literally running on empty.  I couldn’t move anymore.  My stomach was craving for food where none was available.  My body felt like a puppet without a puppet master to direct its movement   I fell down and found the sandy trail a welcome comfort for a worn out body.  I closed my eyes and accepted that my life would end here in the middle of the Grand Canyon.  I wasn’t afraid of dying; in fact, I felt peace just for being able to lie down without moving.  I was drifting into a dead sleep without evening knowing it.  I did not know how long I was lying there until someone tapped my shoulder and asked if I needed water.

“I’ve water! But I need food…”

“Fella, you need to keep walking; otherwise, you will die here.” was the response I heard.  Since I wasn’t offered any food, I assumed the stranger did not have any to offer.

After the wake-up call, I began to think…

“I’m still in college, it is too young for me to die here and give up.”

From that point on, I forced myself to stand up and then I told myself to move one-step at a time.

“One step… One step… One step…”

My head was only looking at my feet.  I did not dare to look ahead for fear of thinking of the impossibility.

All my mind was focus only on making that one step and the next one step and the next one step and so on.

By the time I started to see sign of being at the top, I was more motivated but still extremely weak.

I reached a crossroad where I had to decide to turn left to the outhouse or straight ahead to the tram stop.

I grabbed the first person I saw and asked, “Is there food on the house to the left?”

“I’m not sure, I haven’t been inside that house.” was the answer.

I couldn’t risk wasting my last ounce of energy to reach the house that had no food; so I decided to walk to the tram stop where I knew a tram would take me to a visitor center where plenty of food would be available.

The whole point of my story was that it was my first hand experience to the power of the mind.  My body was not there but my mind was there to save me. What amazed me was that my mind knew exactly what to do.  One step at at time was the secret to keeping me alive.  If I was to attempt to walk the final third with my head up; I would have given up hope. The staving body would not be able to deal with the unknown distance to the final destination.  By looking only at my feet and moving one step at a time, my starving body could work with that.

All we need is to summon the intensity, redirect it to the thought we want to focus on, and magical thing can happen.  Magical in the sense that what we think cannot happen can actually happen.

“Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.” Wallace D. Wattles.

Remember, mind = continuous thought process.

Add the intensity, you have the power of the mind.

With the power of the mind in your disposal, you can impress your thought upon formless substance which, in turn, cause the thing you are thinking of to be created.

In the realm of the trading world, we call it the power of positive affirmation.

In other words, you are going to use the power of the mind to redirect your negative trading beliefs into a positive trading beliefs.

Do you know who is the perfect example in the use of power of positive affirmation here?

None other than The Fly himself.

Remember these sayings The Fly keeps on reminding us?

“The Fly” reigned supreme, magnanimous above his peers scolded and scalded them with hot wine and words that transfixed into scissors to cut off the lips of the uninvited.”

“The Art of Winning While Losing”

“I win a lot”

In summary, it is extremely important that we keep a powerful positive mental attitude in our trading mind.

One of my password to one of my computers is, “I am a disciplined trader”  Thus, every morning, I repeat to myself while I type in the password that I am a disciplined trader.

Ruth Barrons Roosevelt, J.D., whom I consider a pioneer in developing positive affirmation for trader, has the following statement in her website:

The three pillars of strength upholding your trading and investing success are:

• first, a proven trading strategy or method;
• second, a disciplined money management plan and practice;
• and third and most importantly, your own individual mental and emotional trading self-mastery.

To achieve mental and emotional trading self-mastery, we need to add intensity to our thought process in order to make it stick.

In summary,

You have the power of the mind on your side.

As has proven by my Grand Canyon trip, you can call forth the intensity and harness your thought power behind the right mental attitude toward self-mastery.

Your ego respects power and will take a second seat if the intensity you call upon is focus on self-mastery.

To begin your journey, you only need to have the desire to improve and the tenacity to persist.

Good luck.

My 2 cents.

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