Have you taken subconscious training before?  Has it helped?  Let us know your experience… just leave a comment below!

How are you liking this discussion on focus?  We want to hear from YOU… please comment below.

Let’s hear about your FOCUS oriented achievement… just leave your comment below!

Read the full video script here: 

In our last drill we talked about a topic that’s becoming near and dear to my heart…The power of FOCUS.

We all know the benefits of staying focused on a task…

Being Focused is all about clarity of thought… pointing your mind toward one question or task… and concentrating on getting the best outcome.

For an basketball player, it’s about scoring more points, helping your teammates and staying back on defense.

As the basketball player gets possession of the ball his or her focus is on scoring… and when the other team has the ball, the focus shifts 100% on preventing the other team from scoring and getting ball back.

If a basketball player lets himself linger on a missed shot while he’s supposed to be getting back on defense… that LAPSE of FOCUS is usually costly.

I see that all the time when I’m watching basketball.

A player has the ball and then turns it over on a bobbled dribble and then laments for a second and then runs back on defense only to be a step behind and commits a foul.

I see that happen time after time in sports.

On the flip side… how many times have you seen a basketball player make a terrific defensive play and then somehow he’s dunking the ball for  score 10 seconds later….

I LOVE to see players on a roll with their FOCUS!

And it is EXACTLY the same with Traders!

Traders need to FOCUS on Solidifying their trading plan.. assessing risk tolerance, market conditions, etc.…

….that would be equivalent to a basketball player knowing the gameplan, based his teams strengths and weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing team…

A trader then needs to FOCUS on entering a trade … that’s equivalent to our athlete on offense… and then Exiting a trader… that would be our basketball player dropping back on defense.

A trader who exits a losing trade and spends time feeling bad about it, winds up out of Focus and missing the next opportunity… which is like the needless foul to the basketball player.

The athletes game plan needs to be followed and total focus must shift to offense and defense and back again.

The trader needs to follow his or her trading plan… focus on getting into a trade as planned and then shifting focus to the exit strategy.

Sounds simple…but, for many traders, it’s not.

Why?  Because your a human being and your a complicated person.  You worry about what can happen to your trade once it’s on.  You worry about a loss leading to another loss.  On and on.

Well there’s an easy way to solve that, too… An easy way to get out of your own way…

… and we’ll go over that next week.

And in the meantime, if  you’ve ever played sports… and you applied you uncanny focus to win the game… hit the homer, or make that throw to first… or sink that 3 pointer with no time left on the clock,… or came from behind in a 5K race to cross the finish line in personal record time… whatever your achievement…

I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT.

Your past successes can be applied to your future successes … I’ll show you how next week.

So LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW and let’s hear about your FOCUS oriented achievement.

And.. Until next week…

STAY DISCIPLINED!

Share your experience with us… how has staying focused helped you?  Just leave a comment below!

Read the full video script: 

Let’s talk to day a topic that’s becoming of ever-increasing importance to me… not only in my trading life, but my personal life.

The topic I’m referring to is the importance of FOCUS.

I’m finding out that a lot a really good things happen when I shut everything off … around me and in my mind… and just focus on a task.

When you focus, that means that you’re giving your FULL attention to something… and by giving your full attention…. what you’re actually doing is…

…corralling all your mental power and making your total wealth of knowledge available to you to complete that task.

It’s a scientific fact that you brain has recorded everything that has every happened to you since the moment you were born …

in fact, even while you’re in the womb…

Your brain records everything you’ve ever heard, seen… and even felt… and when you have direct access to that wealth of PERSONAL experience… and that’s what you have when you FOCUS…

…then you have the raw material for getting answers that make sense to YOU.

Now… when faced with a task you need to get done, it really becomes a matter of assessing a situation and then making a decision or a series of decisions to remedy or solve or complete the situation….

… and it’s clarity of the facts that allows you to assess… the true degree of risk in a situation… the most efficient way to solve a problem….

… whatever the elements that need to be measured to complete a task… It’s the clarity of the facts that surround the task, that allows you to make the right choices….

… and that’s EXACTLY WHAT YOU GET when you FOCUS.!

When you isolate your thought process to zoom in on a certain situation… at the exclusion of any noise… noise being other thoughts unrelated to the situation…

…you can quickly recall all the information you need to recall. plus assess what you need to research and then put it all together to arrive at a quick effective decision that works for YOU.

Learning to focus not only allows you to be a better and more effective decsion-maker, but also makes you more efficient…

…. you’ll get more done in a short period of time… and you’ll get it done right.

I’m not sure that all if this is something you don’t already know…

I mean we all know that FOCUS is important when you want to get something done. ..  Athletes know it… Engineers know it…. Pilots know it…. we all pretty much know it …  SO…

Why is it that being FOCUSED for longer than a few minutes, if not seconds, is so hard for so many of us?

We’ll take on that question in our next 4-Minute Drill… and maybe even a few answers.

Can you remember a situation or task where you were completely focused and surprised yourself on how quickly you came up with a great solution?

If one comes to mind… and we all have one…Just leave a comment and share your success with us… A Success That Was A Result of Your Laser-Like Focus!

OK.. that’s it for this addition of 4 Minute Drill for Traders…

SO, until next week… STAY DISCIPLINED!

What did you think of the President’s and Trump’s take on trading discipline?  We’d love to hear your thoughts… just comment below!

Do you let the media effect your trading?  Let’s hear from you… just comment below.  Also, be sure to watch next week for 4-Minute Drill #100!

Read the full video script: 

I’m constantly amazed… and annoyed… and lately even ANGRY… at the way the talking heads on CNBC, Bloomberg, etc., pump fear and doubt in to the market with the way they phrase things.

The Dow Jones was down 150 points the other day and it was talked about as a market ‘nose-dive’… and the term ‘crash’ was even used.

150 Points is not a crash!

Descriptions like these can really influence a traders if they’re not disciplined to follow their trading plan.

You know, everyone has an agenda… the TV stations need to keep viewer interest by drumming up excitement whenever they can conjure it up….

… the newscasters themselves are competing for anchor spots… so THEY have to be dramatic to get noticed….

… and we, as traders, get the brunt of all the hyperbole thrown at us… so that these Hollywood agendas can be played out.

But, you know something?… WE HAVE AN AGENDA, TOO!…

And that agenda is to make money trading by following our trading plan… in fact, if we play the hyperbole game the right way, we can actually benefit from all the mis-representations thrown at us!

If we know that market hyperbole usually results in overreactions, we can account for that in the way we place our stops or take our profits.

Additional volatility caused by hyperbole also results in expanded options premiums.

I’ve often sold option premiums and gains high flying rhetoric … like “This stock is exploding”…” or “Silver is crashing”.

Words like “exploding”, have me looking for call premiums to sell and the “crash” can often give me fat put premiums to add to my account.

It’s all in how you handle the over-exuberance of others… who are playing out their own agendas!

The key here… is really the same key that is central to all successful trading… follow your trading plan no matter what any talking head says or does.

The only thing that is important is YOUR PERSONAL TRADING AGENDA.

So focus solely on THAT and let other, out-of-control traders be manhandled by the news.

Yes… you’ll be in the minority… but it’s the minority who make all the money trading!

Why not be one of them?

OK.. that’s it for this addition of 4-Minute Drill for Traders…

Leave a comment and let me know how YOU’VE been wrongly influenced by the talking heads… or let me know how you’re following YOUR personal agenda and succeeding.

OH!  … and don’t miss next week’s 4-Minute Drill… as next week is 4MD number 100  and we’ve got a special drill planned!  … and thanks for all your suggestions given last week… it really helped us to plan a great hundredth effort.

All Right…That’s it… see you next week…  and until then…

STAY DISCIPLINED!

Also, 4-Minute Drill 100 is coming-up so be sure to leave a comment and tell us what you’d like to see in our special episode!

What do you want to see in 4-Minute Drill 100?  Let us know, please comment below!

Read the full script: 

I posed a question to myself this week … and that question was…

“What is the single most important talent that a trader can develop that would result in maximum trading profits?

Now, in breaking down the question, to maximize trading profits, really means taking bigger profits from each trade… either that… or putting on more positions of the same trade.

I like the first version better,  because as you increase the number of positions, you increase the chance of having a big-loss trade… so, for me…

… the best approach would be to put on fewer actual positions, but ride those positions longer… and I guess that boils down to catching a trend and riding it.

OK… after I pondered the question… “What is the single most important talent that a trader can develop that would result in maximum trading profits”, my answer wound up to be…

The single most important talent is … the ability to ride a trend move to it’s full extent.

More specifically… catching the beginning of the trend and staying in to the end or very near the end of the trend…

… and not getting FAKED OUT prematurely or making rules that limit your ability to participate in the majority of the move..

Just a couple of days ago… Wednesday… the stock market continued to make new highs… and I took my profit after being in this particular trade for 3 days.

I took the profit because I had a PERSONAL rule… and that rule is that I take my profit if any individual trade results in a 10% profit (measured against my total equity).

AND… after pondering the question of a trader’s most important talent, and deciding it’s riding a trade as long as possible… I realized that my 10% profit rule LIMITED my ability to have the biggest profit I can have.

So, this weekend, I’m changing that rule.

Now, to be fair to myself, I put the rule in place as a personal emotional self-guard.  You see, I REALLY get down on myself when I have a BIG profit and give some back.

And as you all know, THE MOST important aspect of trading is to keep your positive expectancy.  This rule helped me do that.

But what is BIG?   Big can be Bigger.   Why limit myself if I’m emotionally PAST those concerns.. .and I AM PAST THEM.

My 10% rule was put into my trading plan 2 years ago, when giving back profit was more of an emotional issue for me.

I don’t need it now.

So starting Monday, a 10% profit move won’t be getting me out of a trade… I’ll be sticking with a trade until THE CHART tells me to get out.

ONE MORE NOTE:

You are currently watching 4 minute drill number 98.  In a couple of weeks, I’ll be doing 4-Minute Drill number ONE HUNDRED… and I want to make it special.

So… give my YOUR suggestions.  What would you like to see.  An interview with someone famous?  Is there a particular topic you’d like me to address?

Let me know!    Again… I want to make number 100 special … so let me know what you’d like me to hit on.

And if you have comment on the question we’re discussing in this drillll

“What is the single most important talent that a trader can develop that would result in maximum trading profits?”

Let’s hear from you on that!    Don’t go spelling out your trading plan… just give me the ONE TALENT you think makes a trader the most money.

Leave a comment below … or just hit LIKE and let me know you’re into these 4- Minute Drills!

OK.. that’s it for this addition of 4-Minute Drill for traders, …

So, Until next week….  STAY DISCIPLINED!

Do you take time off regularly?  Let’s hear from you… just comment below!

Read the full video script: 

I’d like to suggest something to all traders that you may not have had somebody suggest to you before.

Take some time off.

Now, most of you may think that I’m talking about situations where you’re on a losing streak or you’re at a point of very high stress…

… and YES… you need to back off and take some time off in those situations… but what I’m REALLY talking about here is PLANNED time off.

Even if you’ve been trading for a short time, you’ve undoubtedly found your way ‘bulling through’ trading situations…

… whether it’s finding a trade to take quickly… because you just lost 3 trades in a row and you want to end the day on a winner…

…or taking an extra position or two because you’re on a winning streak and feel you should ‘up the risk’  while the “gettin’ is good”.

A frustrated, fatigued, or out-of-sorts YOU will usually result in making some bad decisions and a loss of capital.

You need to take care of your head… your stress… and do it in a planned way.

This can take different forms…

Take every other Friday off… and make it a ‘Deep Journaling Day”…

…where you spend 2 or three hours REALLY delving into what’s been working for you technically in your trading and emotionally in your trading.

Relax… look at you trading in a different… none-hurried perspective.

Your going to discover that you’ve been doing some things you need to change… then go ahead and change them.

Or maybe planned time off can take the form of having a SPECIFIC RULE or RULES about when you force yourself to take some time off.

Look… after 3 or 4 losing trades… if there is still some time on the clock… I know I used to want to at least end the day with a winner and I’d jump on anything that looked good.

BAD MOVE.

I’d lose much more than win and I’d be kicking myself for being an idiot.

Now I have a rule… 3 losers in a row… I take the rest of the day off.  I have found that simple rule… take the rest oft the day off after 3 losses in a row … has saved me A LOT of money…

… because I noticed my last desperation trade was usually a BIG loser.

How about  you?

Do you have a ‘take some time off’ rules that you’d like to share with us that have worked for you?

How about a story of fatigue or idiocy that caused a big loss … where we can share your pain and get inspired about doing something about it…

… and taking some PLANNED time off!

Let’s hear from you… Leave a comment and let’s get into this… IT”S IMPORTANT.

OK… that’s it for this addition of 4 Minute Drill for Traders.

So, until next week…

STAY DISCIPLINED!

Are you leaving money on the table by underestimating the market?  We’d like to hear from you… just comment below!

Read the full script:

Let me make a statement…

Don’t underestimate the power of the market… because if you do… it can hurt you.

For instance….If you underestimate the power of a market… and when I say market, I mean an individual stock, a currency pair, a futures contract… ANYTHING YOU CAN TRADE… anything where there is a buyer and seller.

If you underestimate the power of a market, you’re going to wind up limiting your winners and leaving too much money on the table.

I bring up this point because from what I see in the charts, economies around the world ARE coming back… lead by the US economy.

But even the European Union and all the banking issues… the latest being Cyprus… seem to all work themselves out.  At least that’s what the charts are telling me.

What I’m noticing is that the first Euro banking situation lead to a deep correction in the stock market.

Then the next scare also resulted in a deep correction, but not quite as deep.

Each negative situation is meeting with less and less of correction.  The latest one, Cyprus, resulted in a few days of minor correction and now, two weeks after the original announcement of the Cyprus crises, the market is making ALL TIME highs.

Does not mean the crisis is over in Europe?  Absolutely not.  What it means is that the market…TRADERS and INVESTORS… have growing confidence that because Europe has handled all of the past issues, they’ll be able to handle future issues.

Now, You may not agree  that the European Crisis is over and I may not agree that it’s over… but we are trading the markets… and the MARKET AGREES that the worst is behind us.

That is EXACTLY what the chart is telling you.

The market is demonstrating relentless power… no matter what YOU may think.  Trade what you see, not what you fear or doubt.

There are STILL a majority of traders who I come across that are waiting for the BIG stock market correction… spouting sayings like …’No market goes straight up’ and ‘We can’t carry all this debt and not have to pay the piper”.

Well, I agree we may have to pay the piper… but I’ll wait until the MARKET TELLS ME THAT… and not try to IMPOSE my own theory on the market and try to BE RIGHT to satisfy my EGO.

I don’t do that anymore and neither should you.  You’re not smarter than the market.

The market is TRUTH… what things are ACTUALLY bought and sold for… the ACTUAL VALUE… not some dream value that you THINK it SHOULD be worth.

Be smart, my fellow traders.   Keep your ideas to yourself and trade what the chart tells you… because if you have been you’re likely setting some of your own profit records trading the long side of the market.

And remember… when drought news starts bringing grains higher, and there’s a mining strike in the copper fields and copper starts flying, and canadian dollar starts to soar because of new natural resource discoveries…

DON”T UNDERESTIMATE the power of a market… because THERE.. in those sustained moves… is where fortunes are made.

There is no too high or too low… the market will do what the market wants to do no matter what you think.

So… stay out of your own way and trade what you SEE, not what you feel.

OK that’s it for this addition of 4-Minute Drill for traders.

So, until Next Week…

STAY DISCIPLINED!!!