< previous page page_20 next page >

Page 20
will procrastinate in taking action as the possibility of pain increases. For example, if you get upset by taking a loss on a one lot, imagine how much pain and effort will be required to exit a ten lot! Without exception, unless you have mastered and actively control your ego, it will hurt a hundred times as much, not ten times as much. What keeps you from acting quickly is the fear of pain. The ego is very efficient at justifying the delay and inaction that are required to end this pain. The fear is generated by the ego's attempt to balance the three forces acting upon it.
An unmastered ego will always prevent fast action. Procrastination is caused by the ego, because by quickly taking a loss, the ego is being forced to admit that it is wrong. Outstanding traders are able to exit a losing trade with no hesitation, pain, or effort, because they have mastered their ego. Before you trade a ten lot or hundred lot, you have to make sure that your ego is able to take the increased risk and losses effortlessly. Toddlers learn to run by first taking incremental steps, at a constantly increasing rate, until they are running. The best way to increase the size of the contracts traded is to do so incrementally.
Ego-driven traders absolutely love to show the rest of the world their abilities by picking the bottom or top of a market. Your ego if allowed to will decide that the market is oversold or overbought and should reverse. Since your ego hates to miss a major move, and really detests waiting, it will generate all the reasons in the universe why you must enter right now. Quite naturally your ego wants to demonstrate to itself, and the world, its brilliance and intuitiveness. Your ego wants to enter the trade, and then have the market follow your lead by subsequently reversing direction. The truth of the matter is that you must follow the lead of the market, since the market will very rarely follow your lead.
The largest hindrance you have in consistently making profitable trades is your uncontrolled ego. Your ego will always want to lead the market; it will never want to relax and follow the market. Your ego wants the maximum amount of recognition and glory possible. The best way to achieve glory is by anticipating the future. Consequently the ego becomes very adept at looking at the past and rationalizing what occurred, so that it may anticipate the future. Unless you take the time to master your ego, you will have great difficulty staying in the present moment. Your ego would rather add to a losing trade and, if presented with profits, quickly take them. You can determine if your ego is in charge by asking yourself why you want to buy/hold/exit a position. Is your answer based on past market action, an idea you have logically deduced, resistance to taking a loss right now, fear of letting profits slip through your fingers, a belief that the market must

 
< previous page page_20 next page >