Why Self-Destructive Behaviors Persist - A Positive Attitude is No Match for Reactive Patterns A Common Scenario for Self-Sabotage This time it was going to be different for John (Our fictional trader). He was ready. His trading rules were etched on the back of his eye lids – burned into his memory. He knew the set-ups he was looking for, backwards and forwards, and he was only going to trade those set-ups. John knew how he was going to execute his trade. He knew how he was going to manage risk once he was in the trade. All he had to do was follow his rules and he was going to win his share of trades. He affirmed that he was a patient and disciplined trader. John saw success and could feel it. Prepared for battle, John turned on his computer, watched his screens light up, and saw the charts appear. He was ready to trade – to win. What happened after that is still a mystery to John. Somehow, despite his best intentions, he ended up taking a loss on a trade that was questionable at best. It certainly was not a “Cheetah” trade based on his trade criterion – which he swore was the only ones he would take. But there he was anyway. Then he took a loss. Everything after that is a blur to John. All he knows is that he somehow fell into self-destructive behaviors that led him into revenge-trading. Before the trading session ended, John (once again), had a losing day. And he really did not understand what had happened or how to stop it from happening again. He was rattled and was no longer the confident trader he had talked himself into being before he started trading earlier in the day. This scenario had been going on for way too long. He was so close (but so far away) from the success he wanted. He could smell it, taste it; but somehow he kept falling into a self-destructive spell and instead he kept pulling defeat out of the jaws of victory. A Closer Examination of Self-Sabotage Through Another Perspective...Tomorrow!
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:10:30 +0000