Thursday Trader's Tip: Self-Belief
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Welcome to Thursday Trader's Tip — the free edition of The High-Performing Trader newsletter. Each issue presents to-the-point trading psychology advice that can be read in under 5 min.
This week's post is about self-belief.
In trading, in the middle of the sea of best practices and methods, two fundamental rules stand out and should be your allies throughout your whole trading career. They are:
Believe in yourself;
Always live for another day.
Let’s talk about the first rule.
Rule #1: Believe In Yourself
Humans naturally gravitate towards activities and skills that align with their self-image. This can be both a great advantage and the biggest obstacle to achieving your best potential.
Your mind sets your physical boundaries.
If you don't see yourself as capable of something, you'll likely steer clear of it. And if you do go for it, you will fail every time.
Self-belief is the one thing that either sets traders to failure before they even start or propels them to exceptional performance.
Technical skills can only take you so far. The real moment of truth arrives when you confront your own mind – the inner voices telling you that easy money is not for you, the ones that have been setting you up for less than what you’re capable of, the ones making you give the profits of a great trading week back to the market.
No matter how great you are at managing risk, handling losses, or idea research, without self-belief, you'll inevitably self-sabotage and revert to your comfortable 'default mode.'
Your mind's limits need to expand along with your performance potential. Issues arise when your mind doesn't keep up with your growth.
Succeeding in the market involves consistently challenging the boundaries of your mind.
When your mind surpasses the boundaries of the performance potential circle, that's when you break performance ceilings and accomplish more than you ever thought possible.
In trading, self-belief is essential at every stage:
In the beginning, when you need to believe you can learn the necessary knowledge.
In drawdowns or losing days.
When breaking performance resistances.
etc.
Those from safe upbringings who grew up with an abundant mindset, tend to have broader self-images, making it easier for them to progress without facing the self-belief obstacle.
While many factors you didn’t have control over may have influenced your self-image, it's not an excuse to remain stuck. Self-confidence is not a fixed trait one is born with; it’s a skill that can be developed.
If you haven't practiced self-belief much in your life, it's normal to lack it. Your environment shapes you, so let's create an environment that promotes an increase in your self-belief rather than depleting it.
Commit to doing something daily that boosts your self-belief. Make it a priority. This involves stepping outside of your mental comfort zone every day with an activity that feels uncomfortable.
Do this and your self-image will no longer be a barrier to achieving your trading goals.
Happy trading,
Sara
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Great article! Simple and powerful. I liked the mind potential graphic. It reminds me of a line from Star Wars:
Luke: (after seeing Yoda use the Force to lift Luke’s X-wing starship out of a swamp after Luke couldn’t do it) “I don’t believe it”
Yoda: “That is why you fail”
It all starts with belief