Performance

There was an article in yesterdays London Sunday Times Sports section on the Formula 1 phenomena that is Lewis Hamilton.

For those who are not aware Lewis is the leader of this years Formula 1 racing championship. Perhaps nothing too amazing there until you realise that he is a complete rookie. He has only competed in 7 Formula 1 races however his results have been fantastic; a third place, four seconds and two victories – a trophy (and podium finish) for every race and a respectable 10 point lead.

The author (himself an ex F1 driver) makes a serious point about the mind management help he has received in his training and pays attention to the Mental Conditioning Coach that Lewis uses to help provide him the edge in his driving. Read the rest of this entry »

If you remember from my last entry I stated that there were 3 blocks to success. The first was Over – Analysis which leads onto the 2nd block:

Self-Doubt which is often experienced as Fear. Having become paralysed by over-analysis you then find yourself doubting your own analysis and your own ability. That internal voice keeps telling you:

• “Your last trade was a loser, so will this one be...”
• “You don’t know what you’re doing do you?”
• “You want to go long but the talking head on Bloomberg is saying traders should be short, surely he knows more than you?”

And a hundred other such self-defeating comments. Read the rest of this entry »

Fear is defined as ‘the anticipation of pain’, which is very often linked to a past outcome. As traders it can be the defining element between success and failure for an individual. We can have the most elegant and sophisticated of trading strategies but if we’re paralyzed by fear then we will amount to nothing!

• How many times have you ’sat on your hands’ and avoided pulling the trigger?
• How many times have you seen a fantastic set-up in the market only to ignore the opportunity because it wasn’t perfect?
• How many times have you convinced yourself that when you’re a better/more confident/ better capitalized trader then you’ll take those trades?

To be continued…