Good day, All. Do you ever feel like the guy in the picture above? Do you ever feel like sometimes no matter what you do it still seems like you are smashing your head against a wall? Well, I have good news and bad news, which would like first? Well, if you head is hurting from all the wall-banging then I am going to go out on a limb and say that the good news should go first and so here goes…the good news is you are not alone and this feeling like all others will pass in time as well. There is a little bit more good news if you ever feel like this and that is that you control this feeling with your actions and your thoughts.

I did mention that there was bad news and in the interest of fairness and honesty I should give the devil his due and relay the negative side. Here goes… the reason you feel like this is because you control this feeling through your actions and your thoughts and you most likely didnt know that is the case. Now, if you are still with me at this point then I applaude you as the description above may seem a little bit contradictory but in reality its not and I am going to use the rest of this blog trying to explain it better and hopefully give you some insight into the control that I speak of.

Ok, let me set the stage….you have been trading for a while…maybe a couple of years and you were wise enough to seek counsel before jumping into the trading arena (basically you got educated before you started out) and you have had limited success and it seems every time you take a step forward you take two steps back, does this sound at all familiar? This is where the head-banging feeling begins. Now, because you are a go-getter and you simply refuse to give up or be defeated you soldier on and take more courses and work twice as hard as before believing that the path you seek is there waiting for you to arrive and yet you are still struggling to reach that breakthrough in your trading results. Does this sound at all familiar? I know that when I started out this is exactly the feeling I had. So, I am guessing you would like to know how to defeat this problem…yes?

Well, there are a couple of things I have noticed from all the mentoring I have done. There are two kinds of issues that hold folks back from their ah-ha type moments. Those two things can be categorized as the known and the unknown. The known things are work output and constructive progress. The unknown things are personal blockages and psychological pressures.

Let’s first discuss the known issues because they are easier to understand and easier to remedy. I remember a couple of students I had many years ago that seemed eager to learn the craft of trading and yet they each had known factors that were holding them back from ultimate trading success. I do find it odd that both of these I found in a couple of traders that were paired up. The first of the pair was the type that would agree to be coachable right up until the moment you asked them to do something. This person just wanted to be given the answers instead of struggling through the problem and really learning something. The other student really had a thirst to learn and didn’t lack in effort at all but unfortunately got stuck in certain areas and then would take all that great effort and just spin his wheels until he couldn’t make head nor tails of what it was he was supposed to be doing. I will say the second chap needed more help and did manage to make it further down the trading path then the first fellow. You see these known things can be overcome if the desire is great enough and the individual really wants to achieve something but ultimately that is in the control of the individual.

Now, for the unknowns. These are especially tricky because the vast majority of people don’t realize these actually exist because they can’t be seen and can’t be quantified. Personal blockages are things in our minds that keep us from doing the things we know we should and that can ultimately keep us stuck or away achieving what is infinitely possible for all of us. This can be something simple like a belief that the market whipsaws every trade we do and therefore we refuse to put in stops and then what actually happens is far more disastrous than getting whipsawed anyway. The second unknown factor is also diabolical, as its always there but you may not even feel it or understand the actual gravity of these psychological pressures. For example, maybe you are just starting along your trading path and you have a spouse or family member that has no idea what you are doing or doesn’t share your beliefs about trading and instead of encouraging you to excel at your chosen endeavor they try to persuade you to give up on your chosen path. Many would say that this doesn’t matter as long as your conviction is strong enough but I say that is false and there are many other very successful traders that understand that trading is a mental game and that anything that affects your mental state will also affect your trading. This is just one a million examples of mental stresses that can weigh on one’s ability to trade well.

Its these known and unknown factors that can make someone feel like they are banging their heads against a wall. The good news is that the individual trader is in complete control of all these things. If you work output is lacking then the individual can change that. If you are spinning your wheels and not getting productive output then you can seek out a mentor to get you on the right track and keep you moving forward. If you have a blockage for whatever reason then you can review your thought, feelings and beliefs and see if they are constructive or destructive and then you can replace those destructive beliefs or at least minimize their effect. If you have psychological pressures then you can take the time to deal with those pressure by dealing with them open and honestly to find some common ground so that it doesnt stand in the way of solid trading results.

So the next time you feel like you are banging your head against the wall, step back and understand that you are in control and that you can change your reality by changing your perspective.

Trade well,

Coach Holmes