Every trader goes through many phases during his trading career, where success alternates with failure and progress with decline. The journey in front of everyone was fun and we enjoyed it when we saw for ourselves that all the time spent is on something, and maybe the time will come when we will finally get the crown in the financial markets. But then another recession came and we started with me from scratch. In this article, we will consider why it is so difficult to improve in trading (and other activities) and how to ensure that we do not have to come back again and again on the way to our goal.

Example of glass

We will certainly agree that in order for a trader to develop, it is necessary to acquire new information, both from technical disciplines such as technical and fundamental analysis, trading types and methods, indicators or AOS, but also the need to develop oneself. himself, his soul and his emotions. I believe that with an understanding of the need for self-education, most people enter the trade, but for some reason everything stops working after a while.

The learning process is well understood with the example of a glass filled with water. Can you put more water in the glass than its volume? Probably not. As you pour more and more water into the glass, it will start to overflow. And the old water and the new refill water overflowed.

New knowledge behaves in exactly the same way. If you have a head full of unnecessary old knowledge, it will be difficult to keep the new ones in your head, and the more you try to pour them into your head, the more they will overflow. This is precisely why most self-education efforts fail. At the beginning of their journey, people need to realize that it is necessary to first empty the “glass” and only then start pouring new water into it.

Controlled self development

Actually, it’s not old knowledge that gets in the way of learning new things. The main problem is the Ego, which doesn’t want to let go of that old knowledge. Too much adherence to old experience, knowledge and behavior patterns is a major obstacle to self-development and is also the main reason why most people don’t succeed in trading. They can’t rewrite their old behavior patterns that don’t work, or they regret pouring old water out of a glass.

Sticking to old habits is generally very difficult to overcome. And above all, habits we don’t even realize when we make them. These customs include:

• brushing teeth with one hand
• dress the t-shirt still the same way
• the same way on the way to and from work

You can consciously divide this routine as part of your “glass pouring” training. Brush your teeth with the other hand, go to work in a different way and you can also dress in a different way (pants are usually wrapped in the stronger leg first).

And only after you learn to “pour the glass,” start a new project, in which you’ll expect the need to occasionally clear your head of unnecessary behavior patterns. The whole process of controlled self-development is in the spirit: “for something new to come, the old must first go.”

Thank you for reading!

Martin Klass