|
|
|
|
|
|
|
them: that of their own performance. As with the excellence list given earlier, when you read these, think how they may relate to your life in general. Then consider how they specifically relate to your approach to trading and investing. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Goal Set Is Unrealistically or Even Impossibly High |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ron, who trades at home about once per week, tells me that he considers himself a ''failure" because he has not been able to make money on more than two of the first 12 trades he makes online. Even though he does his due diligence before investing, his timing for entering positions has not been good. In addition, he is inadequately capitalized and ends up bailing out as soon as a stock drops a couple of points. And yet his unrealistic expectation is that he ought to be making a profit on every trade. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Perfectionists cannot tolerate simply coming close to the goal. They cannot tolerate anything less than hitting it on the nose. They leave little room for acknowledging and valuing gradual steps of successive approximation, or getting closer and closer to the goal with repeated practice. Coming close is the same as failing. This all-or-nothing thinking can lead to feelings of self-disgust, anger, regret, and make perfectionists blame themselves for the "failure." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. Perfectionists are not willing to be beginners. They have little tolerance for the feeling of frustration that is natural to learning a new skill. They expect they ought to be able to perform perfectly from the very start. While they may realize this is irrational, they believe it nevertheless. If they can't learn a new skill immediately, they find some excuse for giving it up because they cannot tolerate feeling foolish and dependent. Perfectionists tend to avoid depending on others because they don't want to acknowledge their limits. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unwilling to be beginners, they shy away from anything they have not already mastered. They don't like to be seen trying something new in public, where the potential for feeling embarrassment is even stronger. If they do let themselves try something new, they prefer to do so privately, where no one can witness their trial-and-error efforts. This helps explain, for example, why some who want to learn active trading at a day trading facility would never subject themselves to the imagined humiliation of learning in front of others. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sometimes perfectionists rationalize their avoidance of trying anything new as a lack of interest. They would rather tell themselves |
|
|
|
|
|