Did you read my last blog entry?  It was entitled, “YOU are the Holy Grail” in which I wrote about the three expressions or aspects of YOU and I used the analogy of a ship to make the distinctions between those three versions of “you.”   I referred to them as “me, myself and I.”  Let’s go into greater detail on that idea.

“I” as the “BIG I” is the omniscient character up in the crow’s nest of the ship with A Higher Point of View.  This YOU is the Holy Grail that everyone is looking for…outside of themselves. The “me” is “the Captain,” which is the you that is in charge of making choices and decisions.  “Myself” refers to the “little i’s.”   The “little i’s” are the saboteurs; they are the parts that have faulty subconscious programming. 

So, in the last article I said that the “BIG I” IS the Holy Grail.  In this article I will emphasize the fact that if the Holy Grail is YOU it’s imperative that you “Know Yourself!”  That phrase is the inscription that was written on the Oracle of Apollo of Delphi, Greece, 6^th century B.C., so the notion has been around a long time.

And WHY is it so important to know yourself?  That’s a fair question.  I repeat – because YOU are the Holy Grail. Your power and clear decisions come from within, from an “Inner Self” that is powerful and wise.  You must learn to use your strengths more effectively and at the same time develop an awareness of your weaknesses and how to overcome them.

Interestingly enough, you might automatically assume that you know yourself, but that is definitely NOT the case.  You actually have to STUDY yourself! This is why there is such an emphasis on Trading Psychology at the Van Tharp Institute.  

An aspect of knowing “Your SELF” is gaining an understanding of your personality type.  Your personality type can cause you to win or lose in trading; you might have heard Van and I discussing this on one of his Trading Psychology CDs.  

We discuss both the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as well as the Enneagram.  I believe that between these two personality typology systems, all behavior can be accounted for.  The Myers-Briggs deals with “normal” behavior, whereas the Enneagram covers healthy, average and unhealthy behaviors.

Carl Jung, a noted Swiss psychiatrist developed a theory of personality to explain the normal differences between healthy people.  He calls it your “Psychological Type.” Based on his observations, Jung concluded that differences in behavior result from people’s INBORN TENDENCIES to use their minds in different ways.  As people act on these tendencies, they develop patterns of behavior.  When YOU know your pattern of behavior, you can work at your peak.

Jung’s psychological type theory defines eight different patterns of normal behavior, or types.  These patterns of normal behavior result in what Jung and the Myers-Briggs Type indicator call “preferences” which are divided into for groupings, or “dichotomies.”  It is vital to gain a very basic understanding of how your personality strengths and weaknesses impact your trading. 

In this article, I can only briefly introduce the four dichotomies of the Myers-Briggs: Extravert/Introvert; Sensing/Intuition; Thinking/Feeling; and Judging/Perceiving.  Each dichotomy has its inherent strengths and weaknesses that need to be understood through further study and is a entirely different discussion; however, I will present a simple explanation of what each dichotomy reveals.

The Extravert/Introvert dichotomy has to do with where people (traders) PREFER to focus their attention and get energy.  The extravert is energized by the outer environment and people and likes to talk things out, whereas the introverts are energized by their inner world and like to work out ideas by thinking them through.

The Sensing/Intuition dichotomy refers to the way traders PREFER to take in information.  The Sensates are factual, concrete and focus on details and specifics.  The Intuitives see the big picture and patterns. 

The Thinking/Feeling dichotomy has to do with how traders PREFER to make  decisions.  The thinking types are objective, and solve problems with logic and analysis.  The feelers are subjective, display empathy and won’t make a decision until they assess its impact on people.

The Judging/Perceiving dichotomy deals with how traders deal with the outer world.  The Judgers (having nothing to do with the word “judgmental”) PREFER to operate in a systematic way, get closure and want control over their life.  The Perceivers like to stay open to change, let life happen and stay open to possibilities.

So, what does personality type have to do with trading?  Well, personality type influences your thoughts, emotions and actions.   And because your trading performance is driven by your thoughts, emotions, and actions (TEA), they MUST be consistent with achieving good trading results!   Have you ever been in the market and not worked your plan because some emotion came up and seemed to “take over” you thoughts? That’s one of those “little i’s” at work.  That is a weakness that both needs to be and CAN be overcome.

Let me give you an example of how a personality strength/weakness can actually lead one astray and away from his/her system.   I was working with a trader a few months  ago who was having difficulty following his system.  A lack of trust had arisen that 

was related to his being a “Thinking” type on the Myers-Briggs.  Usually, we see thinking and analysis as wonderful traits and positive assets for a trader.  However, that thinking CAN be a double-edged sword.

Let me explain.  For this trader, sometimes his “thinking” was causing him to actually NOT follow the rules of his system. What happened was that when events transpired in the market, instead of just following his system, he would begin to OVER-analyze the situation.  The more he analyzed, he would come to the conclusion that “he knew better” than his system, throw out the rules and consequently lose money.  We had to work with the part of himself that was relying his own thoughts and over-analytical assessments instead of his tried and true (back-tested) system.  Through our work together, he learned to use his analysis to his advantage as well as to trust his system to do what it was designed to do.

Both Van and I emphasize the importance of knowing your personality strengths. When you are armed with that knowledge, you can then capitalize on your strengths and eliminate your weaknesses.  Of course, it takes self-understanding AND inner work.  However, the reward is that you then have a definite EDGE in trading.   Have you already discovered through your own experience that your personality weaknesses are costing you money? Are you ready to take charge and fully utilize the YOU that is your personal “Holy Grail”?

I have alluded to the Myers-Briggs as one system of personality typing.  There is another typology system called The Enneagram, which literally reveals a “MAP” of trading psychology.   It is important to be able to locate where you currently are on that map and to know how to move closer to your destination of consistently profitable trading.  I will write about the “map” of the Enneagram in a future addition of the newsletter.

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YOU are the Holy Grail

by

Libby Adams, Ph.D.

What more common theme is there in trading than people looking for the Holy Grail?    How many times do we hear these remarks from traders: “If I could JUST find the right system.” “If the market would just stop going sideways.”  “If I could just get the right entry.”

The market goes up—some people are making money while others are losing money.

The market goes down—some people are making money while others are losing money.

How do we explain the discrepancy in results?  The market is the market.  How does one person make money while another is on the other end of the trade, losing money?  Same market.  Same day.

Or how about this one: Two people are at the same workshop; they learn the exact same system and buy the same software.  One goes out and makes money, and the other loses.

What is the only variable in all of these examples? The individual.

We can’t expect the market to behave a certain way, but we can expect YOU to behave a certain way.  The only variable is YOU.

But the definition of “you” is not as clear as some might think.   Let me explain.   Most people have some awareness of a variety of “yous” that are talking in their head.  Perhaps we could call them “me, myself, and I.”  Let’s examine these three more closely.

I. The “Big I”  (The Scout Up in the Crow’s Nest)

In our “me, myself, and I” equation, this would be the “I”.    We could say that when it leaves your body, you’d be considered dead.  One of my 28-day course graduates, who was an ER doctor, told a story of a woman who had flatlined on the table.  When she came to, she was recounting details of what the doctors and nurses had been doing in their attempt to revive her.  The doctor said there was no way these things could have been seen from any vantage point other than floating above the scene.

Many people refer to this “I” as their Soul, Spirit, Higher Self, or Conscience.  It is a power source that is invisible and undeniably powerful.   An example of how this “I” operates is when we say, “I am happy to return this wallet to the lost and found.”  Or “I know that Fred was being rude, but I am going to be the bigger person.”  This “I” always takes you along the path of the high road.

If we were to use a ship metaphor, this “I” would be like a scout up in the crow’s nest of a ship who has a broad vantage point and can then communicate his observations to the captain below.  This “bird’s eye view” assists the Captain to make good decisions that generate desired results.  The ship steers a good course, as opposed to ending up on the rocks.

II.  The Conscious Mind or “regular I”  (The Captain of the Ship)

In our triad of “me, myself, and I” this would constitute the “me” aspect.  We refer to this as your conscious mind.  It uses logic and analysis to make choices and has free will.  It might be what you call the captain of the ship.  You make decisions such as “Should I trade the S&P or do I prefer the Russell.”  Your conscious mind is your “decider.”  You use this aspect a LOT in trading.

III.  The little “i”  (Some Members of the Crew Having a Mutiny)

This is the “myself” portion of our “me, myself and I” equation.   I write it as “my self”, separating the words.   This “separated self” or little “i” is actually a program that has separated from the Big I during our formative years as a result believing faulty and erroneous information.  This misinformation might have come from the outside when a parent remarked, “You’ll never amount to anything” and you believed it.  From that time forward, this person might not try out for the school play or go out for track thinking” I won’t make it anyway, so why try?”

Another source of faulty information has its origin in our own self-talk:  things we tell ourselves.  For example, when we volunteered a wrong answer in school and the teacher loudly proclaimed that our answer was way off track, we might have thought “How could I be so stupid?” and decided never to participate in school again.

These programs continue to fire off unconsciously until we do our inner work.  That is exactly why Van’s curriculum includes the so much education about trading psychology. Traders need to know how to discern which “I” is pulling the trigger when they trade and what to do if the wrong one is running the show!!

The Holy Grail, then, is trading with the scout and the captain in alignment—that is, the “I and me” in agreement.  In our ship metaphor, this translates to the scout shouting down sound information from the crow’s nest followed by the captain making good decisions based upon it.  That IS the Holy Grail.  You need look no further than within.

The catch is that we must clear out and rid ourselves of the little “i”s steering us into the rocks. It is not useful to hear thoughts like, “What if this is another loser like the last two?” and then miss an opportunity by not taking the trade.

Want to Transform Your Trading – Go Here http://www.transformationaltrading.com/signup.php 

About Libby Adams: Carol “Libby” Adams, Ph.D., D.D., author of Voices of Selves, is the Executive Director of the Academy of Self-Knowledge. She is a highly skilled presenter and educator, having taught many years in the public school system. She is a Master Practitioner of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and specializes in Transformational Meditation™, a process she has developed and used successfully with hundreds of students over the past ten years. To learn more, visit, www.transformationaltrading.com.

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