Mental Factory

 Your mind is a wonderful machine. More powerful than any computer. But what's more important is what you feed your mental factory. You might ask, "What the hell does that mean??" Look at it this way. If you spend your whole life around unhappy, complaining, and pessimistic people, you will look at the world through the same lens. You might say, no not true, but it is. Constantly being fed misery, being around people who take zero accountability because it's never their fault, they can never get ahead in life because of ......... (Fill in the blank), following the herd of popularity while living their best life on social media, but deep down they are in pain. These people are the absolute worst to be associated with in any capacity. Their dream killers, hope stealers. I call them energy vampires. Don't eeeeeeeever tell these people any of your plans, EVER! I digress. Have you ever tried to have a debate with someone like this on a topic where both parties had a different point of view? How did it go? I'd imagine not well, and it never will. Why? Because they're miserable of course. But it's their mental conditioning. They've drank the punch, and are drunk on the illusion of entitlement, the world owes them something not realizing that the world doesn't owe you shit, or how their job is the reason they aren't wealthy because it doesn't pay enough and they dread getting up to punch a clock in a place that they loathe. Stay with me here, I'm not all doom and gloom with this post, but I'm trying to paint a picture for you. Now, let's look at a person who is surrounded by the complete opposite. They surround themselves with people who are creative, think outside of the box, are always exploring new ideas, trying them, and if it doesn't work, they look at what they've learned from the experience. They take away the positive and leave the negative behind. They talk about money, yes real friends do this, Not how much are you making at work, but how to actually accumulate wealth, in some cases on a generational level. They don't get mad if you don't respond to a FB message right away, a text, or even call them back immediately if you don't take their call. They challenge you to be better than you were the day before, and encourage you to set goals both long and short term. So, which group would you rather surround yourself with? I know which one I would, and I have. I've let those who are energy vampires behind, especially family. It's not that I don't love them, I just honestly don't like them and don't want to be around that kind of energy because we aren't the same. Your mental factory is the epicenter of mental health. It's like working out right. If you continually work out and you aren't seeing results, maybe it could be associated with your eating habits. Maybe you're not pushing yourself hard enough, or maybe overexerting yourself. It could be a number of things, but your drive will determine destination in the grand scheme of life, and to not believe so is naïve. Feeding your mind positivity can work wonders, create better long lasting friendships, relationships, and more opportunity just to name a few. If you want things to change, you have to change. That's the beauty of being human, we can change and adapt, for the better. This will only happen if you want it to happen. There's no rule on this, and there's no roadmap. Surround yourself with people that will help your mental factory not hinder it. Cut out the negativity. I have recently deleted all of my social media, except for twitter. I've tailored my feed to feed me positivity and to continually keep me out of my comfort zone. I want to get better every year like a fine wine, or preferably a nice single malt scotch! You don't have to delete your social media, but really start looking at it from a different perspective. Ask yourself, is this hurting me, or helping me, and how? Then get the ball rolling on cutting out the negativity and focusing on YOU. 

Here is a link to Dandapani, a great channel with meditation exercises and great real life tools to use,
check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/user/DandapaniLLC

Keeping Track, It's Important

 So I've been building up my algorithm for a couple of years now, and finally decided to do a test run on demo. This is a small sample size, and I'll need at least a month or two minimum to get some relevant data. So far things look good. I keep a journal of all of my trades with a screenshot (I use imgur). I blocked out the URL because, well I spent a loooooot of time on this, and I'm not giving it away for free. It's always good to keep a journal to track your progress and see if you need to make any changes. I won't make any until I get a good enough sample size to look at. I keep it simple. Currency pair, amount of pips, long or short, time frame ( I prefer daily or H4), link to a screenshot of the trade, and the comment section. I scan through all trades taken during the week on Sunday, I do my best to keep Saturday as family time when I'm off from my 9 to 5. If you aren't keeping a journal I highly suggest you start, it's good info on how to cut your losses as short as possible which is extremely important in my opinion. How can you get better as a trader without it? You really can't. 

Discipline My Disappointment

 It's been a looooooooong road on the journey as a trader. Doesn't seem like a long time, but it's almost been 8 years. In that time I can't quantify what I've learned when it comes to trading, but it's a lot floating around in this massive head of mine. With the gigantic cloud of negativity floating over trading in both currency and stocks, it's harder than ever to find good information. Partly because a lot of people are just looking to make a buck with a bullshit group, book, indicator, or rehashed information that you can find on babypips.com, or another trading website. But, I digress, I'm still going. I made the decision a when I first learned how to trade, that this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It only took me until the age 33 to finally figure out what my guidance counselor was trying to when I was 17 and 18. I mean who the hell knows anything of financial relevance at that age yet alone what they want to do? The long road has been mostly studying the craft, trying to get a better, find an edge, anything to give me an extra 2% in the win column for both currency and stocks. While also cutting down my losses. I've blown accounts, failed a prop firm exam, had days where I wanted to quit, asked myself "Are you serious man, what the fuck are you doing?!" Yet I persevere, and I must be a glutton for punishment because I'm still at it. In an age where everyone has the fast food mentality of I want it now, since I've learned how to trade, it's the exact opposite in my mind. I have a deeper understanding of how to be a better trader, and be a better human being. In the trade space, patience is currency (I know this now). The majority of the time, I'm waiting for a setup to happen as opposed to just trading to trade. I am now better at dealing with personal issues that may arise due to the fact that I have a more disciplined approach to how I approach everything. The road has been long, and I have yet to reach my destination, but that's where the discipline comes in. Sometimes you have to say "That's just the way it is" and not spend countless hours on the why. Though this may only reach a few eyes, please, don't give up. Even if you aren't a trader. Maybe you're a gamer and you like to stream, maybe you're a foodie who loves not only a fabulous meal, but you love to photograph the food and post the pics on several platforms. Whatever the case, stay the course and don't give up. Maybe this road will take you toward another passion. If so, that's okay. If not, well that's okay too. Just keep going and get great a disciplining your disappointment.