Page 9 - Psychology Course Study Manual

Of course intertwined in my unrealistic beliefs about the market, was the fear of losing money,

etc.! That was a belief I wanted to change and worked on it until I did! It was a slow process

and even today, I sometimes get the urge to take a quick profit, but instead of doing that, I will

wait for the market to tell me when to exit my profitable trades. Now don’t trade on an
emotional level. If you find yourself trading based on your emotions, you need to stop trading

and get help with your trading.

So take some time, get to know yourself, your beliefs (both negative & positive), accept them,
and own them. Then decide on which ones to change and which ones to align with the

markets. I think you will find rewarding results!

Handling Stress & Avoiding Burnout

We have to cope with different types of stress while avoiding burnout. This at times is no easy
task! There can be a fine line between stress and fear since fear can cause stress as well.

Stress can be caused by a heavy workload, feelings of being overwhelmed, deadlines, too much

happening at once, information overload, draw-downs, poor trading results, success, personal
and family pressures, and even boredom can all cause stress. Note that even good things that

are happening can cause stress.

We want to trade in a stress-free state of mind so we need to reduce the things that are
causing stress or change our perceptions. If you are feeling stress while making trading

decisions, it is likely that your trading results will suffer. It is hard to focus while you are

stressed and worrying. If you are stressed, what do you do about it?