Dignity And Bravery
"As Cicero says, we hate gladiators if they are quick to save their lives by any means; we favor them if they show contempt for their lives."
— Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind
Another meditation today, which is tough to try to compare to trading for sure!
Although it does take a fair amount of bravery, to stick to the rules/criteria for your strategies, through thick and thin; especially in the early days of trying out a new strategy that you may have developed or found at TTM for example.
It is vitally important to be patient and disciplined and to be brave enough to make the right choices, when a trade is going against you, so that you can cut short the loss, at your pre-agreed exit point, to protect your trading bank and stay in the game.
Being brave and sticking to the plan, repeatedly practising and practising, so that you know your strategies inside out and back to front, will help you gain the confidence of being able to react early enough, when a trade is going against you. By doing this, you are ensuring that your trades don't become unmanageable and a threat to your trading bank.
If you can develop a patient and disciplined attitude to your trading, with the correct mindset, to follow your rules to the letter, you can become a profitable trader. But you have to put in the hard work with hours and hours of practice.
This isn't something that can just be handed to you on a plate; you need to have that determination and dogged persistence to keep on keeping on, through the good times and the tough times. The historical stats/data that we have available to us, means that the odds are stacked in our favour, giving us our edge, so we will be right many more times than we are wrong. There will be times when you feel like the markets are against you, but if you stick at it and make the right decisions to avoid heavy losses, the wins will far outweigh the controlled losses; as long as those losses stay controlled!
So, be brave and stick to the plan, as you evolve and develop on your trading journey and you will be rewarded for your hard work in the long run, I promise you!