When people are just starting out investing or trading in the stock market and I see the same pattern in their thinking when I meet them at seminars, answer emails, or read their comments. People tend to be focused on learning the techniques or the one technique that will make them a million bucks. And that is important at first but in reality, it isn’t the trading techniques that will make them successful—it is the emotional control and discipline that is required shortly after learning the actual technique.

Take the top professional sport athletes of especially individual sports like tennis, golf, swimming and many others. You notice that the top 20 players can at anytime win the tournament? The 20^th ranked athlete can beat the #2 or 3 ranked person and sometimes the #1 person. Why do you think that is? You think it is their golf swing or technique in tennis or swimming? I don’t think so. I can visualize an old man saying “it is all in the mind” while pointing to his head. And it is true.

What kind of thoughts do you have when you trade? What are your expectations? What kind of emotional reactions do you have when you have a losing trade or set of trades or have a bad day? How do you view money? Does greed control you, are you a gambler, do you feel some sort of pressure to perform, do you need the money that you are trading or investing with to pay next month’s bills? These are all factors that influence the decisions you take with your trades. There is a lot more to this than technique.

I can teach you to be proficient at stock trading technically within a short period of time, perhaps within a couple of months. It is the emotional control that takes more time to learn. But if you can learn more about yourself before you open your first stock position, you will make much more money and have fewer mistakes early in your investing or trading career.

Mitch King, Founder
www.TradeStocksAmerica.com
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Investing, Stock Trading stock market education, stock market investing, Stock Trading