On this episode of Mind Over Markets, we are taking a closer look at our emotions and – most importantly – our emotional awareness. Emotional awareness is more than just being aware of what moods you’re experiencing. It’s about being able to manage and maintain these natural feelings. All of our emotions lead to thoughts, and you have to be able to manage your emotions before they start to negatively influence your decision-making on the trading floor.

Think back to our earlier episodes. Remember when we said all emotions are based in the subconscious mind? That’s because our lizard brains are designed to react to perceived threats with a fight-or-flight response. Emotions trigger this kind of response, but fight-or-flight is really dangerous if you’re a trader. What we’re talking about on this episode are ways you can learn to identify and interrupt this natural pattern before it takes over and starts controlling you and the way you trade. 

We’re both sharing our different strategies for maintaining emotional awareness, but first you have to understand what emotions we’re talking about. Take a look at the 8 basic human emotions, and ask yourself which ones often get the better of you:

1. Anger
2. Sadness
3. Fear
4. Joy
5. Interest 
6. Surprise
7. Disgust
8. Shame

No matter who you are, you’ve experienced at least one of these emotions this week – if not already today. You can’t really detach the integration of these emotions with your thoughts, but you can control your reaction to these emotions, and that’s what we’re diving into today.

Whatever emotion you bring into the trading space, that’s the emotion you’re going to operate in. If you’re an optimistic person, you’re going to have a more optimistic trade experience. But if you’re an angry person, you’re going to be an angry trader, and you might not be too happy with those results. So tune in right now if you’re ready to learn more about your emotions, where they come from, and how to manage them. Because maintaining emotional awareness as a trader is the first step in developing that peak performance state of mind we all need to be the best day traders we know we can be.

In This Episode You Will Learn

• Why and how emotional awareness influences our thoughts and our decisions 0:52
• The eight basic human emotions we all experience 12:00
• 2-WEEK POWER CHALLENGE: The negative emotions you need to control most 25:40
• The importance of journaling your emotions while trading 32:02
• George’s MCM and other strategies for managing emotions while trading 36:06
• How to interrupt your negative emotions at the neuro-physical level 44:32

Some Questions We Discuss

• Why is fight-or-flight mode so dangerous to traders? 3:03
• Why is too much joy just as dangerous as too much fear? 16:35
• How can we fight off these negative, forced emotions? 28:25
• What are the 5 main components of our emotions? 33:30
• What strategies does Mark use to manage his emotions? 39:20
• What are session check-ins and why are they important? 48:32
• Why is it so hard for humans to be emotionally aware? 51:12

Resources

• Connect with us online: Trade Pro Academy
• Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast
• George’s favorite book from today’s episode: Power vs. Force by David R Hawkins

George Papazov

He is the founder of TRADEPRO Academy, a community of over 25,000 traders.