Did you miss another trade?

You knew it was going to go, but you didn’t buy it. 

Or neglected to sell some when you knew you should. 

You had your trading plan set.

You were ready…then you hesitated.

You were filled with doubt and worried about another potential loss. And that’s understandable in markets like these. 

Now your missed trade is working without you, so you beat yourself up with negative self-talk. 

And you might start wondering if you’ll ever generate a profit.  

Will you ever be able to pick a winner again?

You will. Let me show you how.

Ctrl Alt Delete

If all of this sounds familiar, what you’re experiencing is risk aversion. 

No matter what a trader sees in this state, they will hesitate, overanalyze, question, overthink, procrastinate and fail to execute. This is the very definition of FUD. 

This risk aversion can destroy confidence and lead to a series of account depleting decisions. Risk aversion over time can become a form of learned helplessness. 

And if you don’t deal with the problem, risk aversion at the extreme can take you out of the game permanently.

To get back to form requires resetting your risk appetite, interpretation, and response. 

A reboot of sorts. 

A trading reboot requires something fun, physically demanding, and potentially risky. A little something to put your emotional FUD overload on the back burner. 

This will take you out of your head and focus your attention on your primal instincts.

Lift your mental game with something extreme

Athletes seem to have a certain mental toughness. They discover ways of integrating their mind and body that help them push the boundaries of what most people think is possible.

Like crazy Wim Hof (the iceman) when he’s running around in his underwear in freezing conditions, seemingly unaffected by the cold. 

Well-trained athletes can interpret risks in a way that allows them to take them in stride. They train to discover their limits, so they know where they are and what it feels like before they get there. They actively develop confidence. 

Through structured training, they teach themselves to simply react, execute and respond accordingly. Over time it becomes automatic. 

The good news is you don’t have to be a great athlete to tap into this experience. 

You can do this by engaging in what I will refer to as cross-training. 

Embrace your inner animal

Now in sport, cross-training means doing sports or activities unrelated to your specialty. Athletes can improve performance and avoid burnout and injury by cross-training. 

For the trader, cross-training should involve activities that aren’t emotionally focused. Or, put another way, traders should cross train using physically demanding activities. 

You want to do activities that require deep focus, commitment, reaction, and various amounts of risk-taking. 

This reboot means training your mind to work with different kinds of risks. 

These risks are the ones your human nature is perfectly suited for, the primal ones. Sports and activities that use time constraints, add speed, involve obstacles, or substantial weight are all part of your potential cross-training options.

High octane activities require intense commitment and focus. They require preparation, thought, and execution. They demand that you be in the moment, not overthinking but rather reacting. 

And they also tend to be a hell of a lot of fun.

Just like trading.

So what kind of activities are we talking about? 

Let’s head outside, and I’ll show you. 

Be primal

Mountains, forests, and bodies of water reorient people to natural environments and their deepest selves. There’s something unique about time in nature. 

Your senses seem heightened. Your body primed for movement and action. 

The outdoor environment is the perfect place to do your cross-training and reboot your risk meter.

You could get out a slack line and practice walking the tightrope between two trees in a park. Or grab a skateboard and hit the skate park. The local climbing wall may be indoors, but it will get the blood pumping and an adrenaline surge just the same. 

Or head out on the water for some wind, water, or kite surfing. 

If it’s winter, some aggressive downhill skiing will do the trick. 

Up to you. 

Today we’re going to grab a mountain bike, and I’ll show you what I mean by cross training. 

There’s nothing quite like moving freely down a mountain along winding single track on a bike. 

Well, except when you start adding man-made obstacles, rock rolls, slippery roots, and of course, some speed. 

Start by earning your turns

Alright. So the phone is hidden away. Got the gear on, and the bike is ready to go. 

On this ride, we’re going to earn our turns with a long slow fire road climb cutting through the forest up the mountain. 

The climb gives you time to think about the things that are on your mind. Maybe you’re thinking about why you are struggling to execute your trades. Perhaps you are wondering why you missed one trade or another. 

Or what you should do about it. 

Let your mind wander and drift. 

You’re going to wring out all of your anxieties and fears. Because after an hour of climbing, you’re going to forget about these issues. 

Once you enter the trail, there will be no time for thinking about missed trades. 

Rubber side down

We’re here. It’s the entrance to 7th Secret. 

After a short rest, we’re going to drop in for 40 minutes of glorious riding gold. 

But first, it’s time to put on your armour and your game face. 

The tire pressure is lowered a bit to improve grip. 

The suspension opened up, and the seat post is dropped. This primes the bike for the steep terrain and rock rolls. 

Your mind will be focused on split-second decisions choosing the best lines down the trail. 

There will be no room for doubt. 

Hesitation will have consequences.

You ready?

Breath deep.

Let go and let’s go

The entrance looks intimidating, like riding down the back of a big rock-covered snake. It’s doable. All you gotta do is point down and let the brakes go. Just let the suspension do what it’s designed to do.

You roll in, and the bike eats up the steep rocky chunder. The suspension feels perfect. The dirt is damp, and tire grip is mint. 

Then you’ll wind through some trees like a slalom racer. 

A couple of tight off-camber switchbacks later, you’re riding down a short narrow piece of wood. 

Stay off the brakes here. You don’t want to slip and kiss that tree on the right. I’ve come close a few times. Ha ha!

Rock n’ Roll

A couple of minutes later comes a short rock garden with a huge fallen tree on the left. 

At the top, a ninety-degree right into an 8 foot long rock carpet descent, followed by a quick ninety-degree left turn at the bottom. 

You want to slow down and stand tall for this one. It’s usually slippery. I was a little too aggressive here once and dropped my tire in a hole on the right, sending me over the bars like a WWF body slam on the rock carpet.

That wakes a guy up. 

At the bottom, you want to stomp on the pedals. 

You’re gonna pound through three rock ledges down to a slow s-bend through some trees and over a log. Then comes some woodwork.

Finding flow

Ahead, a twenty-five-foot-long path of wood a few inches off the ground. It’s a mix of alternating eight-inch wide tree slats and six-inch-wide boards that create an optical illusion. If you lose focus here, your speed will drop, and falling off to the left might eat a rear derailleur resulting in a long walk home. I know this because it happened to me once. 

A couple more minutes of slow, rocky, rooty hairpin turns brings you a short steep rock roll. Old Pete put a piece of wood at the top of the rock, so you know where to place your tire. Because as you approach, you can’t see the bottom of the rock. 

Now, line up your tire on the piece of wood at the top. Looking down from the top seems like a good ten feet to the bottom. 

Let the brakes go, sit back, head up, and roll it out.

You got this.

Don’t brake too hard at the bottom of the roll. You need some momentum to get up that narrow piece of wood onto that giant fallen tree in another ten feet. 

There is a slight right onto the 6-foot long wood slat, and you gotta lean forward a bit and grind out a couple of pedal strokes. 

At the top of the fallen tree trunk, you’re about six feet off the ground with your front wheel gripping a small patch of chicken wire. You might have to wrestle with the front end of the bike to line it up for the steep seven-foot ladder below.

I’ve seen guys ride down the length of this gigantic fallen tree. Which, I gotta say, is way outside my comfort zone. So I go over the top instead. 

Now let go of the brakes.  

That’s it!

Extreme focus, internal calm

You should feel at one with the bike, with nature, and in the moment here. It’s magnificent. 

There’s no hesitation or lack of confidence. There is only execution.

You flow effortlessly from one obstacle to the next. You embrace the sliding, the mistakes, the unexpected with ease. Your heart is pounding, maxed out by the effort.

As you become tired, your confidence becomes more important. 

Your mind is clear and uncluttered. 

Stay aggressive. 

Breath.

This is part of what it means to be human. 

Visceral. Physical. Real.

Reboot complete. Game face on

Whether on the climbing wall, ski hill, skateboard, or slack line, you’ve reset your instincts by being primal. 

You’ll feel the endorphins flood you with confidence. 

By pushing your limits physically, you have demanded your body and mind work together. 

You have pushed yourself beyond risk aversion by embracing risk and owning it. And you’ve hopefully had some fun doing it. 

You have put aside your overthinking, FUD and indecision to execute. 

Now, it’s time to translate the results of your cross-training into your trading.

The angst of those missed trades is forgotten. It doesn’t matter anymore. Tomorrow is a new day. And it’s time to get prepared. 

Get back to your terminal or phone app. 

Put your game face on. 

You’re ready. 

It’s time to plan for the next trade.

__________________

 

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