Society instructs us to seek money, power, and a faster, wilder pace of life. Don't slow down, and God forbid, don't pause or reflect. Keep chasing or you'll lag behind.
Overschedule, overthink, overwork... this is the slogan. This is supposed to be progress. This is supposed to be what success looks like. We learn early on that this is perfectly normal, and it eventually becomes an addiction.
We can't stop moving. Like any addict, sitting idle and doing nothing makes us feel unproductive. We grow angry because we believe we are wasting time.
Patience and the ability to sit still are not simply virtues in trading, they are gold. Doing nothing can be one of the most productive things you can do.
But, as addicts, we feel compelled to become more productive the instant the trading session begins. It's as though our minds won't let us appreciate doing nothing. We must examine, anticipate, worry, stress, and modify, especially when we are not supposed to THE REASON.
Do you have any ideas? Have you ever noticed how often those thoughts occur? Have you ever noticed that some of your ideas are visual? – You have memories (past), goals (future), and fantasies (fantasy) all springing up in that region you call mind.
Have you ever observed that you have sensations all throughout your body—in it and on it; pleasant and unpleasant; physical and emotional?
Have you ever noticed how all of these experiences—thoughts and sensations—continue?
You're continually drawn to mental and physical states, and most of the time you're not even conscious of it. You are automatically immersed in the stories, you believe them, and they compel you to act in a specific way. Which you do. Have you ever noticed this?
Then, before you know it, you're initiating trades at the wrong moment, exiting at the wrong time, eliminating your stop-loss, increasing or decreasing your position size... Essentially, you're breaking your trade rules.
This is an issue since your lack of awareness of your desires is costing you money. Trading is primarily a waiting game in which you must attack only when the conditions are favorable. If you want action on your terms, you've come to the wrong place. As a trader, you simply cannot afford to be unaware of your own capabilities.
The market moves at its own pace and at its own time. And self-awareness allows you to build patience and 'do nothing' as this occurs. This capacity to let the market do its thing saves you time and energy. It enables deals to come to you. It puts an end to the pursuit. It accepts the natural order and evolution of things.
Most importantly, this is a skill that can be learned. Absolutely! Let's attempt a little exercise...
Right where you are.
When: While waiting for your entering signal; while waiting for your exit signal.
Allow your mind to do its thing. It will generate stories, and your body will generate feelings prompting you to act in a certain way. Your goal is to tolerate being with oneself without trying to modify or control anything. Simply be present.
Allow your attention to wander wherever it likes. You might fantasize about the perfect trade that will give you a 1000% return; you can be concerned about missing out on a fantastic chance; you can be afraid of losing; you can think about nothing or everything.
But take note of this. Take note of where your thoughts wander. Tune in to the part of yourself that just observes what you're thinking and feeling rather than becoming captured by those various feelings.
Your mind's observing quality notices things in an unbiased manner. Notice how it is not entangled or captivated by the various stories and mental and bodily states. It simply observes. Pure, neutral, unconstrained...
That's it. That's the entire technique!
Because day traders must be in front of their screens from trade selection to exit, the do-nothing strategy is more readily applicable. However, swing and position traders can also benefit from it. In reality, you can use it anywhere, at any time, in and out of the market.
This technique teaches you to tolerate whatever your body and mind do, which helps you overcome impatience. Impatience is when you try to force things to happen by thinking them more strongly or frequently, without paying attention to where things truly are.
When you're patient, you're a great observer of what's going on. You can tell when something is about to happen and when it isn't. You note that things develop in distinct cycles, and that different things happen at different points in the cycle.
In other words, you abandon the desire to initiate action on your own terms and instead respond to it in a systematic manner whenever it arises.
It's okay if you find the do-nothing strategy difficult at first, but this is where you start. By the way, Tom Basso (a hedge fund manager interviewed in The New Market Wizards) employs a similar strategy.
You don't even have to approach this as a meditation technique, but you can if you like. Take note of your attitudes, and do not defend yourself against anything.
You welcome anything, whether you are bored, pleased, weary, excited, frightened, fearful, greedy, or restless. Your goal is to just observe yourself as you travel through these different phases. You cannot fail at this.
If you have a lot of noise in your thoughts, you may find yourself wanting to take action in some manner - entering (or quitting) before you even get a trade signal.
As previously said, all of that "noise" or mental rehearsal is not an issue and should not be avoided. When you oppose the cacophony, it only grows louder.
But simply detecting the noise is tremendously powerful because it allows you to view what's going on in your mind and body from a third-person perspective.
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This leads to objectivity, and you may then declare, "OK, this thinking, sensation, or urge is not in line with my trade guidelines, so I will not act on it."
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