The fearless mindset of a gymnast/trader
I admit it. I love the Olympics.
However, if you asked me two weeks ago when the Olympics were starting, I would not have known. Moreover, I would probably have said that I would not watch much of them anyway.
Wrong. I love watching.
Admittedly, I watch the American - made for television (and ratings) broadcast - which just feeds good news. Good stories about the USA, but I also get the same joy by watching a swimmer from Spain light up after winning gold like Miriea Belmonte did last night. Everyone has the same great feeling. Heck I saw someone smiling from ear to ear after coming in fourth in a swimming race. Why? She swam her best time ever.
When I look at these athletes I also wonder about their mindset too. For example, what is going through this gymnasts mind here? Is she thinking negative thoughts? Does she think about the speed, the jump, the beam? Does she know she is upside down here? Is she thinking about missing the beam? Hitting her head? Crashing to the ground? Becoming paralyzed?
I hope not! She probably is very disciplined in what she does. She probably has a positive mindset. She may have a thought or two that she relies on - that makes that flip probability high. I don't think she is thinking about a lot of things though. I don't think she knows she is upside down, 5 feet off the ground,being watched by thousands of people there in the arena or hundreds of millions on television. Look at her eyes. There is focus, but there is a calm there too. I don't see fear.
Doing a flip on a balance beam is hard but doing it cannot be done with fear.
Trading is hard too (not as hard as doing a flip on a 4 inch beam). But like a gymnast, to be successful as a trader, we need to have a focus, but we need to be calm. We cannot have fear.
We need to think positively. We cannot be clutter our minds with too many things. We have to rely on things that increase our success rate. If we fail, we need to make sure we can trade again (i.e. we don't blow up). We need to get back on that bar again (I assume the balance beam is not TOTALLY reckless - although it sure looks that way).
I have had some conversations with traders today about the EURUSD. Earlier in the day, the pair moved below a support level at the 1.1153-61 area. It was also testing a key support area at 1.1135.43 and held. If you bought at 1.1143, should you be scared about the fairly close resistance above at the 1.1153-61 area? Should you tense up with fear?
Like a gymnast, being consistent is key. I believe we as traders need to do the trades the way we always do them. We need to define our risk and limit our risk. Once we are in the middle of that trade - in the middle of that flip off a 4 inch beam - we have to think about the key hurdle/targets. In this case the 1.1153-61 level, but instead of worrying about it, we need to think of what it be like breaking through it (i.e. landing on the beam). In other words think of the area as being what needs to be done to go higher - even if in the middle of it, we really don't know if it will happen or if we will be stopped out.
While the gymnast is upside down, she is not thinking about being upside down. As a trader if we can think of what needs to be done as a hurdle yes, but a welcomed hurdle that will be a spring board to greater things for the trade.
IF gymnasts can flip upside down on a 4-inch beam, 5 feet of the ground and not be fearful, we can do a trade, recognize the hurdles (the close resistance) and think about getting through them instead of fearing them. That - my friends - is the mindset of an Olympic Trading Champion. Go for the gold!
Congratulations to all the Olympic athletes and thanks for making us better traders.
