Stick With Just The Facts
"Don't tell yourself anything more than what the initial impressions report. It's been reported to you that someone is speaking badly about you. This is the report — the report wasn't that you've been harmed. I see that my son is sick — but not that his life is at risk. So always stay within your first impressions, and don't add to them in your head — this way nothing can happen to you."
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Once again today, we have another meditation which is tough to compare to trading!
It is always good and helpful to "stick with just the facts" rather than imagining all sorts of things that could be happening, that can make the situation feel 100 times worse for yourself, than it actually turns out to be!
The same can be said when we trade. Our facts in trading, are the historical stats/data that we use, to determine if the rules/criteria for our strategies are met.
So by sticking to just the facts, we are giving ourselves an edge and a much higher probability of our trades being profitable over the long term.
We know that we are not going to be right every time, but we don't need to be; as long as we can control the trades that are going against us, at a manageable level that protects our trading bank.
If a trade goes wrong and you are forced to take a controlled loss at your pre-agreed exit point, embrace this and congratulate yourself on a job well done; because you know what you've just done? You've just protected your trading bank, which is your absolute priority as a trader.
You will perfect this by practising and practising, until you know your strategies inside out and back to front, hence becoming more consistent and in turn more confident in what you are trying to achieve.
Because we "stick with just the facts" our profitable trades far outweigh an occasional controlled loss, meaning we stay consistently profitable, by making the right choices.