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You must be thinking "Wow, I have read a lot of trading books, and I never heard anyone mention faith before." A lot of what we accomplish in life is based on some pretty simple truths. Let's think about faith for a second. Everything we accomplish is anchored in our faith that we possess, or will possess, the skills necessary to accomplish our goals. Faith is the foundation of all human endeavors. When most people think of faith, they think of religion. This because all religions require their faithful to possess it. Faith is an integral part of spiritual belief; a religion without faith would not be a religion. Faith is also an integral part of every individual. The more faith an individual trader possesses, the more he or she will accomplish. Faith is perhaps one of the highest forms of belief a person can possessit is a conviction.
Faith is absolutely essential to modern society. Without it, civilization would cease to exist! If you started to drive to work and everyone was driving around in a frenzy, your level of faith or certainty that you would arrive at work without an accident would plummet toward zero! If no one was stopping for red lights, if cars were going the wrong way on the roads, if some people were driving backward, and so on, the level of certainty that you previously had would be gone.
In order for people to drive to work in a reasonable time (if at all), they must be fairly certain that the traffic laws will be obeyed by everyone else. If this was not true, then traffic would be very slowstop and goand crazy. In other words, the drivers on the road must have a consensus that the traffic laws of today are the same as the laws of yesterday. How do you think this applies to trading?
Let me give you another example. Can you remember a time in your life when you wanted to do something with real desire, and yet it seemed like you would never get the hang of it? Perhaps it was arguing a case before a jury, performing surgery, or participating in a sport like golf or skiing. After a lot of practice, you did eventually master and perhaps even excel at the activity. Do you remember some of the beliefs that you possessed that empowered you to take the first steps in mastering that skill?
Do you think that faith was one of them? You bet! If people had no sense of faith that they could learn to snowboard, for example, do you honestly think that they would ever rent a snowboard and take that first plunge down the mountain on a very slick surface? Of course not! Again, how do you think this applies to you at trading?
Have you ever wondered about the difference between the Sunday golfer and the professional? What belief did the professional have that the amateur didn't?

 
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