I hope you’ve had an enjoyable weekend thus far because it’s important to be able to re-create on the weekends.

LIke for me last night.

Just for fun, I went country dancing for the first time in about 3 years.

A bit of exercise, some good music, and providing some laughs for everyone there as I tried to make my way around the dance floor doing the Two-Step

No business, no trading, just relaxing and having fun with some good people.

Well, today I have a different type of recreation for you

A simple yet powerful and enjoyable exercise

Here’s how it works

Get out a piece of paper or open a document on your computer

Now think about how you want your trading to be when you’ve got everything working the way you want

What does your day look like?

How do you feel as you go through your trading day?

What does the scene look like when you’re talking to your spouse or friends about your trading?

Pick a scene from above or just use one that comes to mind

Now on your document, describe that scene

Go into as much detail as you can, including your other senses, like if you’re looking out your window or reviewing a statement, how the chair feels if you’re sitting down, the smell of the food if you’re in a restaurant

Now read your scene description out loud

Rate it on a scale from 1 to 10 regarding how desirable it is, where 10 means if just lights you up and makes you feel fantastic

Now read it again, and this time note any words or phrases that don’t quite feel right when you say them, and underline those words

Also if you find that maybe something is missing, add whatever you like that fits with the scene

Thirdly, ask yourself, “What would be even better than this?”

Now rewrite your scene changing out the words that didn’t feel right with whatever feels better, and making additions, and improvements

Rate it again

Repeat the above five steps until you get through it and it feels good all the way through and it rates a 10 on the scale

The point of this exercise is two-fold

1.  First, to give you mental picture of your trading that has a good energy to it, just to begin the process of changing your emotional associations with your trading

2.  To provide you with a good affirmation if you will, to use on a regular basis as a lift when you need it, but also to keep re-conditioning both your conscious and your subconscious to focus on something more positive

Personally I also just find it an enjoyable exercise, and I hope you do too

So the next question becomes,

“What is your purpose in trading?  For what and/or whom are you doing this, going through all this?”

Good to review your purpose from time to time as well

Tomorrow we’ll consider a critical awareness for you to maintain in order to avoid getting yourself off in a wreck

See you tomorrow!

Cheers

Brian

P.S.  The exercise above is just a taste of what we’ll be doing in the Getting Your Mind Right program, which is all about attending to the purely psychological matters