Janice Dorn, MD, PhD
Neuropsychological Trading Coach
Janice Dorn, M.D., Ph.D., has been a full-time futures trader since 1994. Doctor Janice holds an M.D. in psychiatry and is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in general psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. She holds a Ph.D. in brain anatomy. A graduate of Coach University, she is a pioneer market psychiatrist and financial neurobehaviorist. Doctor Janice has written over 500 articles on the financial markets and coached over 600 traders worldwide. She is the Global Risk Strategist for Ingenieux Wealth Management Group, Sydney, Australia.
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Forever is composed of nows…Emily Dickinson
There is never a shortage of people who try to tell us how to live our lives, make more money, find the perfect relationship, or become an overnight success. Just read your e-mail or listen to the media. Everyone has a solution for achieving the abundant, perfect, stress-free life that we seek.
Financial experts flood the airways with a constant barrage of information to keep our eyes and ears focused on the screen and what they are trying to sell. We drown in advice from self-help gurus and people who know more about what is good for us than we do ourselves.
They are selling, and we are buying. What are they selling? In a word, outcome. They are selling hope for more money, a perfect body, less stress and abundance. Everyone has answers that will instantly change our life. Hope sells, and people are paying billions of dollars a year for it.
Although there is nothing intrinsically bad about the concepts of hope and outcome, there is also not much good, either. The one thing that I say to people that causes the most discomfort is, "Abandon attachment to outcome." Before you throw rotten fruit and laugh me out of the building, please allow me to explain the power of abandoning attachment to outcome, in terms of trading.
When you are attached to the outcome of a trade, you step out of the present moment and into the future. You have put your power into the hands of something unknown and out of your control. I see this repeatedly in traders and investors who refuse to short because it is against their principles. They are attached to the outcome of being long, and still look back to years when the markets were climbing steadily.
These people will tell you that it is unpatriotic to short and that shorts can never win because the market "always comes back." These are the same people who are holding on to stocks they have carried since the height of the tech bubble. When asked why they won't let go of them, they tell you that selling would be like losing a trusted friend. They are attached to the outcome, hoping that the stock will be a winner for them if they just hold on to it long enough.
The analogy here is a bad relationship. Every day there is fighting and antagonism and life is far from pleasant. Yet, there are times when things seem better, and this keeps the relationship going–even though both people are, for the most part, miserable. They are attached to the outcome that things will be better–tomorrow. One tomorrow leads to the next and the next, until there are so many that we don't know where the time went or what happened to the wonderful life we had hoped for.
There is nothing more invigorating than to get out of attachment to outcome and into the present. Nowhere is this clearer than in the world of trading. Once you are able to make the transition from the future to the present, everything changes. A quantum shift occurs because you are now living fully in the moment, and you are in control of what you think and do with your stock positions. There is no tomorrow, just today. This is what I have learned about taking personal responsibility for every moment of my life–both in and out of the markets.
I understand the remorse in selling too soon. I know the regret of buying too late. I also know that I am fully present in the moment with the markets and my positions in the markets. I have been there, and I have experienced every emotion that you are feeling. Like a bad relationship–if it isn't working, I get out quickly. Moreover, I don't get involved when I don't see the signals. When I stopped fighting the present, for the first time, I began to trade profitably.
A quantum shift in reality occurred because I was no longer in the realm of attachment to outcome. I was 100% in the moment of the trade. I let go of attachment to outcome and allowed myself to be truly present in that perfect moment.
This change of attitude got me off the slippery slope and into accepting the reality that this moment is really all there is. I stopped resisting and went with the flow.
Suddenly, a newfound joy, passion and indescribable feeling of calm poured over me. Trading and life show up only in the here and now. When I stopped anticipating movement and starting accepting what was happening now, I was able to grasp the full concept that this was not about books, people, places or things. This was about me. I am responsible for what I do in each unique moment. The choices are mine, and I am not attached to anything but the full freedom of the here and now.
I learned to trust myself…to believe in myself…to truly understand what it means to stand with integrity and be completely responsible for my thoughts, feelings and actions. I learned that this moment is the perfect moment, and I am always in it. I have a wish for you: that this be your perfect moment…and this one, and this one, and this one.
You're writing the story of your life one moment at a time…Doc Childre and Howard Martin
Until Next Time,
Good Trading and Brain On!
Janice Dorn, M.D., Ph.D.
janice@thetradingdoctor.com
P.S.—Take a sneak peek at my new book, Personal Responsibility: The Power of You, published in January, 2008, at www.personalresponsibilitybook.com.
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