It may sound like a contradiction, but the best way to get where you want to go in the trade – meaning profit – is to stop focusing on it.  In other words, the outcome of P/L is not important. The element that is critically important is your process; that is, the flawless execution and implementation of strategy and plan; your edge.

Take a moment to think about what happens when you initiate planning and implementation of a trade; for instance, checking economic reports and broad markets, setting the curve, finding and drawing the zones, checking the trend, scoring the trade with odds enhancers, determining S.E.T.S. (stop, entry, target, size), placing the order, managing the trade, monitoring reports that might impact the price movement, and logging the trade after it is closed. Now, what part of this process focuses on profit? None of it does; except of course identifying your profit target to establish reward/risk parameters, which is very important. Otherwise, the potential profit is not relevant to the process; but the novice focuses on and emotionally invests in it.

Consider how the novice feels when the trade does not end in their favor; they feel emotionally betrayed, angry, sad and, in many cases, vengeful as well. Now, what is this reminiscent of… relationships? When you get into a relationship and it falls apart, generally speaking the same emotions are experienced; i.e., betrayal, anger, sadness and vengeance as well, in some cases.

When you think about it, entering into a trade is a relationship…it is a relationship between you and the market, meaning your beliefs about the market and the trade. If you believe that the trade should go your way and that the markets must respond positively, and if you are emotionally connected to a profitable outcome, then when it fails you become despondent and/or angry. This happens to a large degree because of the element of what I call the Tyranny of Certainty.