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Page 123
matical formulas is a bad thing? Hardly! It is a bad thing if the underlying reason is an attempt to escape from accepting responsibility. It is not a bad thing if the underlying reason is to increase the trader's edge. Traders increase their edge when they can see the underlying truth or structure of the market. I know this sounds like I am splitting hairshowever, let me assure you that I am not.
Consider this analogy. A man who helps an elderly woman across the street at night because he remembers his grandmother, and is acting from his virtues, is entirely different from a man who intends to mug the woman when she gets into the darkness on the other side of the street. The action is the same, but the intent is totally different, as is the outcome. Traders who have accepted responsibility for their own outcome, accepted the risk, and adopted some arcane notion of market action in order to obtain a larger edge are not strengthening their disempowering beliefs about the market. This is in stark contrast to traders who are learning because they want to eliminate fear by being able to accurately predict prices. These traders are strengthening their disempowering beliefs without realizing it. As in a lot of things, the intent or underlying belief that caused the action is everything.
Consistently profitable traders possess certain common beliefs about profits. Successful traders believe that profits come to them because they are able to perceive the market as it is. The better their perception, the greater their profit. They think in probabilities, and they know that in time their edge "methodology" will allow them to realize consistent profits. Since they work in probabilities, and since the market will do the unexpected, they will have losses as well as profits. Just as they have no emotional attachment to a loss, they have little emotional attachment to a profit.
Successful traders perceive the market not as a threat, but as a vehicle (do you remember what a vehicle is?) that allows them to make money. In the vast majority of cases they realize that fear is caused by their beliefs. So if they are experiencing fear, they begin to ask questions about what beliefs are causing the fear, and then change the beliefs. This allows them to perceive the market action without being under the influence of fear. In fact, they experience no fear, anger, doubt, or indecision while trading. They are not experiencing any stress because they have accepted responsibility for the consequences of their beliefs, perceptions, and actions, and because they are existing only in the momentthey are in the "zone."
Outstanding traders are able to generate consistent profits because they have the ability and skill to behave consistently. They consistently fill their mind with empowering beliefs, they are consistently able to perceive the

 
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