Chapter 5 W: “Most of us have no concept of the extent to which we are continually surrounded by the invisible opportunities inherent in the information we are exposed to. More often than not, we never learn about these opportunities and, as a result, they remain invisible.” “People see what they’ve learned to see, and everything else is invisible until they learn how to counteract the energy that blocks their awareness of whatever is unlearned and waiting to be discovered.” A: I love that Mark introduces this concept that we are almost blind to infinite opportunities, based on our own mental framework and past experiences. We all sort of know this to an extent, that our thoughts and beliefs are formed from our experiences. But to realize that it is our own mind that is causing countless opportunities to remain invisible is pretty eye opening. In my own trading I feel like I am definitely in the pattern of more hesitation after numerous losing trades and overconfidence and risky after several winning trades. I didn’t realize I was limiting myself by allowing the win/loss excitement/fear to dictate my next trade. Learning to take conscious control of the by mind’s association process and learning how to circumvent its natural propensity to associate is now something I am aware of and can work on.

@WearyBear - that is awesome & I am glad you enjoyed it and are seeing some progress!

This chapter was, to date, the most impactful for me. It gave me some specific "tools" to start disconnecting my mind and my emotions from the turbulent journey through trading I have had so far. I believe I am starting to act differently. I feel more calm and at ease at the market open. -The fact that I trade a strategy where I don't jump in right away certainly helps, too.

Chapter 5 W: “…I want you to ask yourself whether, at the moment you hesitated, were you perceiving what the market was making available, or perceiving what was in your mind reflected back to you? The market gave you a signal. But you didn’t perceive the signal from an objective or positive perspective. You didn’t see it as an opportunity to experience the positive feeling you would get from winning or making money, but that’s exactly what the market was making available to you”. A: tells us the market is neutral, the market just produces information that we, the traders, are the ones who interpret that information according to our personal perceptions or mental state such as threats, fears. Our internal and mental conflicts are the ones leading our decision and the way we processed that information. A: It’s a constant conflict between our mental state and the information from the market. This conflict is what prevents us from properly executing our trades; makes us to miss opportunities given by the market. We need to be aware at all times and have a neutral and unbiased perception. Building the proper mindset will help to properly execute each trade.

Chapter 5 - The Dynamics of Perception W - In the Flow - perceiving an endless stream of opportunity, To trade like professionals you must be able to see the market from an objective perspective, without distortion. You must be able to act without resistance or hesitation, but with the appropriate amount of positive restraint to counteract the negative effects of overconfidence or euphoria. In essence we need a unique state of mind; a traders mentality. If the memories, distinctions, and beliefs we've acquired as a result of our encounters with the external environment represent what we've learned about that environment represent what we've learned about the environment and how it works; & if these memories, distinctions & beliefs exist in our mental environment as energy; and if energy doesn't take up any space; then it could be said that we have an unlimited capacity to learn. Anything that is energy has the potential to act as a force expressing its form, and that is exactly what our memories, distinctions & beliefs do. "People see what they want".....Put into Mark's words - People see what they have learned to see, & everything else is invisible until they learn how to counteract the energy that blocks awareness. Our minds associate & link anything that exists in the external environment that is similar in quality, characteristics, properties, or traits to anything that already exists in our "mental environment" as a memory or distinction. Developing & maintaining a state of mind that perceives opportunity flow, without the threat of pain or the problems caused by overconfidence, will require that you take conscious control of the association process. A - Perception is reality. The dog biting example is classic and we all have experiences & examples like this we can think about... this type of animal or person hurt me; that means this type of animal or person is dangerous & can hurt me again. If memories, distinctions, & beliefs are energy that take up "no space" we can endlessly learn new ways of being and elevate ourselves to new levels. Beliefs are what happened to you before and how your mind processed that info. They could even be formed from things you have heard; not even experienced....I keep seeing this type of animal/person causing danger on TV and now I don't want to be near this type of person/animal because I "perceive/believe" them to be a threat and a "High Risk". On a side note; protect your mind....what you watch, read, look at, who you talk to - it is all forming your future thoughts, beliefs, actions, words.... deal with good things, people, shows, etc....keep the garbage out! "Developing & maintaining a state of mind that perceives opportunity flow, without the threat of pain or the problems caused by overconfidence, will require that you take conscious control of the association process". - This is the last sentence in the chapter... We have to learn to make new connections similar to what Rande Howell talks about in his classes. Our brain is hardwired to connect fear/pain/loss and processes it in a certain way to protect us. We touched a hot stove, it hurt, we cannot touch it again.....In trading we lose, we feel pain, we should not do that again.... what we have to do is disassociate the pain from "losing" in trading. I like to think in terms of "wrong side of probability" vs loss. Loss means a lot of things for people (death, etc).... wrong side of probability to me feels like "oh well maybe next time it will work... A - How I interpret all of this.... if what I perceive will be my conscious awareness and I need to process a trading loss as unpainful; what can I do to speed up this process? Practice and screen time are an absolute necessity. Learning and being able to 100% execute is a necessity. Once this is accomplished; the proper mindset is a necessity. A "loss" as defined by society cannot be the same thing we assimilate to trading. A trading loss is nothing - part of the game...the price to play. You have to be able to shake it off/park it/later learn from it.....Speeding this up; I would fall back to all the psych tools BBT constantly teaches us - meditation, visualization, mental imagery...these are all great tools. You may have some deeper psych things to initially deal with (most of us do). Revisit in your mind when it became so terrible to lose at anything and what that means for you (as an example)... maybe you believe "Losing means I am a failure and in my family failures are not shown love" maybe you believe "All rich people are assholes or money doesnt grow on trees or You do not deserve to be rich or you will never be successful because deep down you think you are not worth or are a loser"....maybe you believe something else that is "blocking you" from learning and reaching the next level that Mark speaks to in his book. This will be personal and independent for everyone. Take a deep dive and be open and honest with yourself about what you believe and dig deep to figure out when, where, why you believe this and who told you to believe it. Let yourself know it is really ok to let this belief go. This may take a few internal conversations as your brain starts to work it out, but it is worth it. Let go of those old beliefs, hurts, etc so you can make room for new ones that enable you to reach the goals and future you desire. Psych is as much (if not more) work than the technical side of trading, but you have to do it if you really want to build new beliefs and habits and attain the flow state. I haven't read ahead so maybe Mark will give us additional suggestions on how to get there...For me personally; I spent the past year dealing with a lot of old stuff and now I am building the new mental system while I improve on my technical game. Sorry so many words this week. I am nothing if not long winded. Enjoy your evening:)! PS - if you take this verse above and start digging into your psyche; if you find something very painful or aren't sure what to do/where to go - talk to a trained pro...that is why psychologists are out there & in high demand. There's zero shame in trying to make yourself better, stronger and capable of living your best life. WE ALL have stuff to deal with and the way one processes will be totally different from anyone else in the world. It takes a stronger person to look it square in the face and take it's power away... You can do it; I believe in you & if you need help I am here, but I recommend someone like Crede, Dr Reid or Rande - they have the proper tools and like my surgeon example today - they have cut into a lot of heads...lol.

W - When the internal struggle ends, everything will becomes easy. At this point, you can take full advantage of all your skills. A- Mark wants to say that if you are under fear at every trade you maybe cannot trade according to your trade book. You will cut your looses to late or maybe to early (if not they maybe turned into winner) And you cut your winners to earyl. If you are under fear you maybe dont enter a trade because you just had a loosing one. Than you becomes fomo and enters the next trade too fast with not so much confirmations. So with fear in your trading you can not trade as good as you are. Fear is like driving a car under alcohol. You car is able to drive fast and precise, but when your brain is not clear as it could be because of the alcohol (=fear) Then your car(=tradingsystem) will never show the best out of itself. A- I have to work on my tradebook. And be more spezific when to enter a trade an when not. Sometimes I do not enter because I am not sure if it fits to my tradebook or not. And more rules will help me to shut down the fear because I can work like a machine. As Aiman told us: If, then, else... and so on and on. And when your stats are ok and your risk per trade is not too much so that you feel comfortable with it, you should can avoid the fear. Why you should have fear? Losing is part of the game. Be happy with your losers, because after a loser the next winner will come for sure.