One of the hardest things I think all traders face is the ability to get over the “what if.”
- What if I traded 2 days later?
- What if I actually traded the stock instead of watching it?
- If only I took out my position yesterday.
The list goes on and on, but, to be truly successful or at least keep your hair, those “what if” notions must go. Now I am not saying you should completely forget about the past, but learn from your mistakes or lost opportunities and move on. It is not like you can go back in time (I think). What is done is done, so we must all move on with our lives. If you keep dwelling on the past, then you might miss out on the present.
The whole idea of the “what if” thoughts are not foreign in any aspect of life, so if you can get over that hump better opportunities and better sleep will unravel for you.
There is no sure right method to get over these statements because everyone must deal with situations in their own way. The key is to finding what that “it” factor is. For example, every time I come across a missed opportunity or a bad deal I go through a couple steps:
- Write a summary of what went wrong in a notebook. I try to keep the description nice and short.
- Learn how to spot these problems for next time.
- Move on to the next deal and forget about the past.
I simply rinse and repeat these steps after any “what if” statements come up; moreover, what I like about my method is that it gets me pumped to do even better and kind of puts the rush back into the game. The notebook basically plays as a sense of closure for me. Once it is logged in the notebook, it stays there. Also when I make my first billion I am sure it will make a great book.
Do you have any methods for getting those horrible “what if” notions?
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