Wherever You Go, There Your Choice Is
"A podium and a prison is each a place, one high and the other low, but in either place your freedom of choice can be maintained if you so wish."
— Epictetus, Discourses
So this is all about making choices and as traders we want to be making the right choices! We will use our knowledge and our aids such as Sports-IQ for example and the historical stats/data, will help us hopefully make the right choices. When we see opportunities arise that fully meets the rules/criteria for our strategies, we act. But what if it goes wrong? We stick to our plan and exit for a controlled loss to protect our bank, which is our primary aim of course. Because of the stats/data that we have available to us, it gives us an edge, so we will be making the right choices many more times than we will be wrong. Therefore, as long as we respond without hesitation, (and in a heartbeat if trading a horse race with a short time window for example) we will be profitable in the long term. So logically our greens will more than outweigh the occasional red, as long as it is a controlled red of course. It is imperative that we stick to our rules 100% of the time and take the controlled red willingly on the odd occasion.
As long as we don't push the boundaries and get over confident or greedy, thinking we can squeeze some extra profit from a trade, we will be making the right choices. But remember we are totally free to make our own choices, so we have to work hard every day when we trade to ensure we do the right thing, by sticking to the plan and reacting accordingly, if we don't see what we are expecting to see. Human nature makes us want more and greed is a killer for traders! This is why it is vitally important that we develop the right habits by adopting the correct mindset on every occasion that we trade. You must stay patient to wait for the right opportunities and be disciplined and focused to be able to execute those trades properly. Only practice will make us better, as long as we make the right choices along the way! "Wherever you go, there your choice is." Are you ready and prepared for the challenge?