Book Club - Trading in the Zone June 2022

[Susan 111]

Chapter 9 - The Nature of Beliefs

W - The task is how to learn to properly integrate the 5 fundamental truths into your mental system as core beliefs that are not in conflict with any other beliefs.

A functional level is, one where you find yourself just naturally operating out of a carefree state of mind, perceiving exactly what you need to do and doing it without hesitation or internal conflict.  

It is also important that you not take for granted the amount of mental effort you may have to expend to train your mind to fully accept these principles of success, regardless of how well you understand them.  

Many people make the mistake of assuming that once they understand something, the insight inherent in their new understanding automatically becomes a functional part of their identity.

There may be any number of conflicting beliefs to work through.

** It may take a considerable amount of mental work (over a considerable amount of time) to properly integrate your new understandings about trading into your mental environment.  The good news is that, ultimately, the exercise provided in Chapter 11 will install the 5 fundamental truths and resolve many of the potential conflicts, but only if you know exactly what you are doing & why you are doing it.

A - To summarize all Mark is saying IMO; surface learning is not what we need to get this...we need it at "a functional level" so we can be carefree traders that are "in the zone".  Listening and even being able to say the things in this book "out loud" is not enough - you have to get it into your belief system.  There will be conflicting beliefs for most traders and he states for the majority of the 1000s he coached... exceptionally are traders that are almost there in their belief system.  For most; this will require a bunch of mental work over a long period of time.  

A - I assess myself to be somewhere between knowing all of this stuff from immersing myself into trading psych the past 8 months & some of it sinking in...I read this book before, but I dont even remember what is coming in Chapt 11.  I cant wait for Mark to explain how to really get these belifs built in at a functional level.  I have definitley been dealing with old beliefs since I started trading... initially this was almost impossibly hard, but now I think most of them are gone.  The one dealing with being ok losing money is a deep one for me.  I have some ideas to keep working on it, but I am very open to what Mark recommends in the coming chapters:)

[Dan F 73]

W- As it’s pointed out in the book that we as a people are taught that you have to work hard to earn your pay. I think with an idea so ingrained into our mind we don’t tend to believe that there is such thing as free or easy money. People receive freebies all the time without realizing it so it seems uncomfortable when an actual lump sum comes your way with no strings attached.   

 

A- It is thought that a person who believes in free money will take free money. Example: the probable bus commuter excepting what was enough to pay for bus fair in Chicago.

 

A- The way I am going to integrate this into my trading and life is tell myself (when I see traders get easy money) that I can do that instead of asking why not me. Setting any type of boundaries or limit to what you receive freely will stunt or stop what you get.

[Miguel Angel 65]

Chapter 9 Entry:

W - "Simply put, the truth is a function of whatever works in relation to what we are trying to accomplish at any given moment." -Mark Douglas

A - Mark is stating in this chapter that our belief systems can hinder our ability to see the truth by creating expectations that are in conflict with the objective realities of our external environment. But when we free our minds from the constraints of our own belief systems and all of the notions attached to those beliefs in relations to the market, and if we trade in a way that is in sync with the realities of the market, we will create a state of satisfaction in our own lives.

A - This state of satisfaction from trading without expectation and understanding that I need to trade what works from the market's perspective is truly a notion that I work hard every day to incorporate in my own trading journey. Not just to believe it in my mind, but to act upon that truth through actual proof in my trades. The recording of that truth comes in the form of my daily journaling, reflection, and refinement. 🙏

[Susan 111]

Chapter 10- The Impacts of Beliefs on Trading

w- everyone has a sense of self evaluation. The easiest way to describe this sense is to list every active belief, both conscious and subconscious, that has potential to argue either for or against accumulating or achieving greater and greater levels of success and prosperity. Then match the energy from the positively charged beliefs against the energy from the negatively charged beliefs. If you have more positively charged energy arguing for success and prosperity than negatively charged energy arguing against them, you have a positive sense of self evaluation.  The dynamics of how these beliefs interact with one another is not nearly so simple as I’m making it sound. It could be so complex that it could take years of sophisticated mental work to organize and sort out. 
 

A - Mark is giving us a way to figure out our beliefs and figure out if we have more positively or negatively charged beliefs. 
 

A - I picked this part of the book bc I’m going to put it into practice this week. I love all he says, but once I get all my beliefs on paper; he leaves much to be desired about how he recommends changing these beliefs. I’ve done webinars on this and learned about it so I know some skills I’ll apply & May reach out to Ed & Dr Reid. I’ll share with this group and some of it (stuff that’s not too personal) in the chat room in hopes others can implement a similar process for theirselves. Mark notes we all have negative beliefs so we shouldn’t feel bad, but we should investigate and handle (IMO). 

[Dan F 73]

Chapter 10

W- A belief can be affected by unconscious sub-beliefs. Every belief that has energy wants to be expressed and validated, this can definitely bring in your emotions to trading.

A- Mark talks about Making your beliefs as neutral as how you feel about the tooth fairy or Santa Claus.

A- In order to bring this state of neutral thought to your trading, it is important to find something that will clear any energy that a belief has. This can come from many ways, maybe a trading buddy or letting creativity find a way to prove to you indefinitely that your beliefs hold no energy.

[Miguel Angel 65]

Chapter 10 Entry:

W - "The easiest and most effective way to work with our beliefs is to gently render them inactive or nonfunctional by drawing the energy out of them. I call this process de-activation. After de-activation, the original structure of the belief remains intact, so technically it hasn't changed. The difference is that the belief no longer has any energy. Without energy, it doesn't have the potential to act as a force on our perception of information or on our behavior." -Mark Douglas

W - Marks helps us understand that what causes our inability to fully accept a probabilistic mindset are the beliefs that we developed from an early age. Those beliefs will remain with us for the rest of our lives, but we can deactivate those beliefs so that they no longer act as a force on our ability to consistently trade profitably.

W - The work to reframe my mindset to accept that "anything can happen" and the outcome of my trading is unknown has been a huge game changer for me. I see it in the way I take trades now, talk about trading, and how I write about trading. If the 3 pillars of trading are technology, strategy, and psychology, then I have the best trading tools, the most strategies I could ever use in a lifetime; but psychology has been my biggest challenge. The most difficult aspect of psychology has been the work of deactivating many of my beliefs that has hindered me not only in trading, but also in my personal life. I am grateful that Mark Douglas has shown us a path to achieve success as traders and in life. 🙏

 

 

[Dan F 73]

***Susan posted in the alerts tab this morning***

"Hi everyone, Book Club will be canceled today. Please add comments to the Forum & we will pick up next week. We are cleaning up from Ian in Florida. Trade Safe."

[Miguel Angel 65]

22 hours ago, Dan F said:

***Susan posted in the alerts tab this morning***

"Hi everyone, Book Club will be canceled today. Please add comments to the Forum & we will pick up next week. We are cleaning up from Ian in Florida. Trade Safe."

Thanks Dan!

[Marco 22]

W: There has to be something behind our rentless attempts to convince others of the validity
of our beliefs and to deny the validity of theirs.

A: Our beliefs needs expression. They want to be right. And we can hardly change them. We can only weaken them

A: For my live I have to work on the belief that I can make this trading thing. I think I have an belief that thinks
I can't do this. This is the reason why I often change the strategy. I have to stick at one. 

[Susan 111]

Chapter 11 - Thinking Like a Trader

W-

I AM A CONSISTENT WINNER BECAUSE:

1. I objectively identify my edges.

2. I predefine the risk of every trade.

3. I completely accept the risk or I am willing to let go of the trade.

4. I act on my edges without reservation or hesitation.

5. I pay myself as the market makes money available to me.

6. I continually monitor my susceptibility for making errors.

7. I understand the absolute necessity of these principles of consistent success and, therefore, I never violate them.

A - Mark is giving us the 7 principles of consistency.

A- For me; I will be continuing to study, observe and live these principles.  I am writing them on a board in my office along with the 5 Fundamental Truths.  Like so many great books; it is not enough to read through the material...we have to know it, accept it and live it (IMO)!  

 

Talk soon everyone!

[Dan F 73]

Chapter 11 Thinking Like A Trader

W- Any Issues in trading can be linked to their own unique movements that varies in complexity and reaction of the move. No one trade can be compared to another because we are dealing with erratic numbers that are very dynamic. The only thing that you can incrementally deal with in the in the market is how much you change your strategy.

A- As Mark Douglas was saying in his last chapter you must have tangible goals that can be worked on one small step at a time

A- How I am going to apply this is to cut down what I’m focusing on per week. With having less to keep track of I’ll be able to make stronger incremental improvements. Working on bigger goals gives the feeling that you will have bigger results, but you can get slowed down if you’re not making tangible sometimes smaller goals.

[Miguel Angel 65]

Chapter 11 Entry:

W - "If you asked me to distill trading down to its simplest form, I would say that it is a pattern recognition numbers game. We use market analysis to identify the patterns, define the risk, and determine when to take profits. The trade either works or it doesn't. In any case, we go on to the next trade. It's that simple, but it's certainly not easy. In fact, trading is probably the hardest thing you'll ever attempt to be successful at. That's not because it requires intellect; quite the contrary! But because the more you think you know, the less successful you'll be. Trading is hard because you have to operate in a state of not having to know, even though your analysis may turn out at times to be "perfectly" correct. To operate in a state of not having to know, you have to properly manage your expectations. To properly manage your expectations, you must realign your mental environment so that you believe without a shadow of a doubt in the five fundamental truths." -Mark Douglas

A - Mark has distilled in its simplest form the truth about trading: it's pattern recognition, defining risk, and taking profits. The concepts are simple but so difficult to implement in trading because our beliefs interfere with this process and needs to be deactivated in order to accept the ultimate truth of trading that anything can happen and that every moment in the market is unique.

A - Thank you Susan for leading the "Trading In The Zone" book club during these past 11 weeks; your leadership has been exemplary. Thank you Ed for your insights into the trading mindset. Thank you all for allowing me to be vulnerable in discussing the good, bad, and the ugly of my trading journey. I have learned so much about myself and it has been a life changing experience which has greatly improved my trading mindset. Wishing all of you the best in your trading journey moving forward. 🙏

[Marco 22]

W - The process of transformation starts with your desire and your willingness to refocus on the object of your desire (self-discipline). Desire is a force [...] A clear desire aimed squarely at a specific objective is a very powerful tool. You can use the force of your desire to create an entirely new version or dimension to your identity; shift energy between two or more conflicting concepts; or change the context or polarity of your memories from negative to positive.

A- I think he wants us to remeber that to start all the things he told in the entirely book, we maybe only need a desire which is big enough. If we are satisfied, we maybe dont change anything, and we maybe dont have the strength to go through all the things we learned.

A- I know the conept of a "strong desire" for a very long time. I have heard it many times. If you want to reach something, you have to know why you would like to have it. This is the force which drives you when you have your "bad" days. What is your WHY? Therefore I will work more on my dreambook and will watch it regularly.

[kendal 10]

Chapter 11 

W: “When our beliefs are completely aligned with our goals or desires, there’s no source of conflicting energy. If there’s no source of conflicting energy, then there’s no source of distracting thoughts, excuses, rationalizations, justifications, or mistakes (conscious or subconscious).” 

“If there’s anything in your mental environment that’s in conflict with the principles of creating the belief that “I am a consistently successful trader,” then you will need to employ the technique of self-discipline to integrate these principles as a dominant, functioning part of your identity. Once the principles become “who you are,” you will no longer need self-discipline, because the process of “being consistent” will become effortless.” 

A: Mark gives us so much to think about in Chapter 11. I need to reread it again just to absorb it all 😊 Aligning my beliefs with my goals seems like a natural process, but in fact for me it isn’t. I could really relate when he was talking about getting into running and how he would come up with a million excuses not to go that day, but once he started making it a daily practice it became easier. I find that I do this with trading and it is definitely counterproductive to my goals. Recognizing that I do this is the first step for me and I look forward to implementing his “self-discipline” ideas to stop with my distracting thoughts and excuses and get onto being consistently successful.

[DollarBill 21]

Chapter 11:

The process of transformation starts with your desire and your willingness to refocus on the object of your desire (self-discipline).  However, having desire vs having smallest definable parts "to be a consistent winner."  You must trade with an objective identify edges.  Defined risk.  Accept the Risk or be in cash!  Act without hesitation.  Pay yourself!