"Decide" (applies to emini futures, pork belly...)

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

I said yesterday that experts agree that 80% or more of what you need for success as a financial trader is psychological. That's regardless of the instrument you trade - whether emini futures, pork belly futures, orange juice futures, stocks, options or whatever.

The first step to becoming profitable is to DECIDE to become profitable. Distinguish that from the following decisions:

1. deciding to follow a system flawlessly (not!)
2. deciding to take every stop loss (not!)
3. deciding to take every entry signal (not!)
4. deciding to find a mentor (not!) 5. deciding to cut your losses and let your profits run (not!)

Salutory as the above decisions may be, they are not the FIRST decision you need to make on the road to becoming a profitable trader. Instead, the very FIRST decision you need to make in that regard is to

DECIDE THAT FROM THIS MOMENT FORWARD, YOU ARE A PROFITABLE TRADER.

That decision will empower you to:

1. consistently do what profitable traders do (too many to mention here -- this will be discussed in future blogs); and

2. eliminate from your habits anything that would prevent you from being a profitable trader (too many to mention here -- this will be discussed in future blogs).

So, pray tell, how does one "decide" to become a profitable trader?

One way is to arbitrarily do so. Just CHOOSE it instead of something else. Really, it's that simple (but not easy).

Another way will be discussed tomorrow which is more powerful and longer lasting.

Raymond T. Lee
LeisurelyCashFlow.com
Raymond@LeisurelyCashFlow.com