Society teaches us to always pursue wealth, power, and a faster, more frantic pace of life.
Avoid pausing or, God forbid, slowing down in order to think. To avoid falling behind, keep pursuing.
The mantra is to overplan, overthink, and overwork. This is what progress is supposed to look like. Success is meant to look like this.
Early on, we are taught to accept this as completely normal, and eventually, this belief develops into an addiction.
We can't remain stationary for very long. We feel unproductive when we sit still and do nothing, just like an addict.
We get frustrated because we believe we are wasting time.
In trading, having the capacity to remain calm and patient is crucial. One of the most effective things you can do is nothing.
But as one could anticipate, like addicts, we suddenly feel the need to increase our level of productivity as soon as the trading session begins.
It's as though our minds forbid us from taking pleasure in idleness. When we're not supposed to, THE REASON, we have to examine, plan for, fret, stress, and alter.
You must be thinking, right? Have you ever noticed how frequently those thoughts tend to arise? Have you ever considered how visually-based some of those thoughts are? – You have thoughts (past), goals (future), and fantasies (fantasy) that merely appear in that area of your mind that you refer to.
Have you ever noticed how your body is filled with sensations—both inside and out, pleasant and unpleasant, physical and emotional—all over it?
Have you ever noticed how continuous all of these experiences—thoughts and feelings—are?
You are frequently unaware of the ongoing pull toward certain mental and physical states. The stories naturally place you inside of them, make you believe what they say, and influence how you should behave and you do. Have you ever observed that as well?
Then, before you know it, you're deleting your stop-loss, raising or decreasing the size of your position, trading at the wrong time of day, and leaving at the wrong moment. In essence, you're breaking your trading principles.
This is a problem since it costs you money to not be mindful of your urges. Trading is primarily a waiting game where you must act only when the situation warrants it.
You're in the wrong field if you want action that happens according to your terms. You simply cannot afford to be a trader if you lack self-awareness.
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The market moves at its own pace and at its own time, without rushing. And self-awareness aids in developing patience so that you can 'do nothing' as it occurs.
You may save time and effort by letting the market take care of things. It enables trades to find you. It puts an end to the pursuit. It accepts the innate order and development of things.
Best of all, this ability can be learned. Absolutely! Let's try a little workout...
When: While you are awaiting your entering signal and your leave signal.
Just let your mind go ahead and work its magic. It will produce narratives, and your body will produce emotions that push you to act in a particular way.
Without attempting to influence or change anything, your goal is to tolerate being there with oneself. Just show up.
Allow your focus to wander wherever it pleases. You can daydream about making the ideal trade that gives you a 1000% return, fret about missing out on a fantastic opportunity, stress about losing money, or think about nothing at all.
Thought so. Keep an eye on your thoughts. Focus on the part of you that just observes your thoughts and emotions rather than letting them take control of you.
Your mind has the ability to observe things objectively. Take note of how it isn't entangled or trapped by the many narratives or emotional and physical states. It merely keeps watch. Pure, unbiased, and free...
The end of that. That is the entire method!
Day traders can now more easily use the do-nothing strategy because they must remain in front of their screens throughout the entire process, from trade selection to exit.
But it can also be used by swing and position traders. In fact, you can use it both inside and outside of a market, at any time.
This method makes it easier for you to accept whatever your body and mind do, which aids in reducing impatience.
When you are impatient, you try to make things happen by thinking about them more frequently or passionately than usual while paying little attention to where they are actually at.
On the other hand, being patient allows you to keep a close eye on what is going on. You can tell when there is a chance for something to happen and when it hasn't happened yet.
You see that things evolve via several cycles, and various events take place at various points in each cycle. In other words, you no longer feel the need to initiate activity on your own terms; instead, you only react methodically to action as it manifests.
Even if you initially find the do-nothing strategy challenging, this is where you should start. Tom Basso, the hedge fund manager featured in The New Market Wizards, also employs a method very similar to this.
Even while you are free to, you don't even have to approach this as a meditation technique. Take note of your attitudes and refrain from defending yourself in any way.
No matter how bored, joyful, content, exhausted, enthusiastic, terrified, greedy, or restless you are, you welcome it all. The idea is to simply watch oneself move through each of those stages. At this, you cannot fail.
When your mind is busy, you can find yourself wanting to act in some way, such as entering (or withdrawing) a trade before you receive a signal to do so.
As previously said, all of that "noise" or mental rehearsal is normal and shouldn't be fought. The cacophony only becomes louder if you try to block it out.
But even this simple act of becoming aware of the noise is highly potent because it enables you to see your body and mind as though from a third-person perspective.
You can then declare, "Okay, this thinking, sensation, or urge is not in line with my trade principles, thus I will not act on them," since objectivity results from doing this.
