Info!! How To Lay Your Greatest Strengths Too Virtues

In the most recent post, nosotros looked at 3 questions that every trader needs to inquire themselves to ensure that they are making the most of their work--and their personal life.  The cardinal thought is that peak functioning requires something to a greater extent than than merely correcting our mistakes together with minimizing our weaknesses.  To last at our best--at work, inward relationships--we must play to our strengths together with honor outlets for our virtues.

But if we've been work focused, how tin nosotros await at ourselves afresh together with position our greatest strengths together with virtues?  

Here is a elementary but powerful exercise inward self-discovery:

Write downward 10 of the happiest, most fulfilling, together with most satisfying events of your life to date.  These tin last drawn from your work, your relationships, your personal interests, your past, or your to a greater extent than recent experience.  The listing should capture the truthful highlights of your life:  meaningful experiences, rewarding accomplishments, positive together with memorable occasions.  

Once you lot stimulate got generated the listing of 10, side past times side to each i write downward the strengths associated alongside each from the listing of 24 below.  Each experience may comprehend to a greater extent than than i strength.

1)  Zest - approaching life alongside a high score of loose energy together with enthusiasm;
2)  Grit - persistence inward the confront of challenge
3)  Self Control - displaying odd dependent together with self mastery
4)  Social Intelligence - displaying detail sensitivity to the needs together with feelings of self together with others  
5)  Gratitude - beingness thankful for what you lot have
6)  Love - beingness around others
7)  Hope - having optimism well-nigh the hereafter together with working toward it
8)  Humor - beingness able to express mirth together with savour oneself
9)  Creativity - generating novel together with valuable ways to cry upwardly well-nigh together with produce things
10)  Curiosity - beingness interested inward something for its ain sake together with delving into it
11)  Open Mindedness - approaching experience inward an accepting way, viewing it from all sides
12)  Love of Learning - mastering a novel expanse of noesis or skill
13)  Wisdom - providing deep together with valuable perspective to others
14)  Bravery - standing upwardly for what is right, willingness to confront threats
15)  Integrity - speaking upwardly for together with acting upon your values
16)  Kindness - doing practiced things for others together with caring for them
17)  Citizenship - working effectively as business office of a squad or community
18)  Fairness - treating others equally
19)  Leadership - providing direction together with back upwardly for a grouping to which you lot belong
20)  Forgiveness - accepting the shortcomings of others together with forgiving their wrongdoings
21)  Modesty - allowing one's actions to utter for themselves without self-aggrandizement
22)  Prudence - exercising restraint together with discretion well-nigh one's choices without taking undue risks
23)  Appreciation of Beauty - noticing together with valuing beauty together with excellence
24)  Spirituality - asset together with acting upon beliefs well-nigh higher role together with pregnant inward life

For some of your transcend 10 life experiences, multiple strengths volition last apparent.  Others may dominantly tap i or 2 strengths.  As you lot survey the strengths attached to each of your peak life experiences, last especially attentive to the items that recur.  These are your signature strengths--the ones most consistently associated alongside your happiness, success, together with fulfillment.

Once you've identified your centre strengths, you lot tin together with so inquire yourself:

*  How consistently am I tapping into these strengths inward my work?

*  How consistently am I tapping into these strengths inward my trading?

*  How consistently produce my relationships tap into these strengths?

*  How many of my transcend strengths honor an active outlet each calendar week inward my life?

It is non uncommon that people honor that they are spending a relatively small-scale proportion of their fourth dimension activating the virtues together with strengths that stimulate got provided them alongside their best life experiences.  That is an of import argue why so many people experience disengaged at work; why so many friendships together with romantic relationships cash inward one's chips stale; together with why our trading fails to larn to that side past times side level.

Sometimes the respond is to approach work, relationships, together with trading differently--in ways that ameliorate play to our strengths.

Sometimes the respond is to rethink our work, relationships, together with trading altogether.

We pass a nifty bargain of fourth dimension climbing the ladder of success.  Make certain that ladder is leaning against the right building.

Further Reading:  Positive Psychology together with Trading Psychology Podcast
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Info!! Trading Psychology Challenges - 2: Perfectionism

In the Enhancing Trader Performance book, I position a powerful obstruction to developing successful trading strategies: perfectionism.  "Perfectionism clearly plays a business office inwards preventing us from cultivating superior strategies," I wrote.  "In a real of import sense, perfectionistic traders are non seeking to brand money.  They are trying to non lose money.  Their intolerance of loss keeps them moving from method to method inwards search of a certainty that markets cannot provide." (p.157).

The phrase hither is apt: *intolerance* of loss.  The perfectionist is non seeking self-improvement.  The perfectionist is intolerant of anything that falls curt of ideal.  This sets the phase for self-blame as well as frustration.  While it powerfulness await similar a shield of high standards that protects us, inwards fact that shield burdens us, weighing downward our performance.

A review of one's trading mag oft reveals when perfectionism is a problem.  Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 trader powerfulness lead hold identified a skillful idea, placed a merchandise at a skillful level, as well as taken profits at a target, only to run into the merchandise become farther inwards his or her direction.  The mag entry volition focus on what the trader *should* lead hold done (holding the merchandise longer) rather than what the trader did well.  The "should" is non grounded inwards whatever tested rule; that same trader volition hold out as self-blaming over a merchandise that is initially profitable but reverses when he or she holds for a farther target!  Such perfectionism is hindsight bias at its worst.  

Note how such perfectionism turns a winning merchandise into a psychological loss past times exclusively focusing on shortcomings.  It is non constructive, because it does non do concrete learning lessons.  It is frustration channeled as self-blame.  As such, it robs us of the fulfillment nosotros otherwise would experience subsequently a skillful merchandise as well as leaves us feeling diminished.  Over time, such self-blame takes a cost on our liberate energy as well as outlook, contributing to the work of burnout.

How many of your mag entries as well as how much of your review fourth dimension are spent on what you lot did wrong?  To what grade do you lot acquire from your successes as well as reinforce your best practices?  If you lot are parenting a immature child, you lot would role positive reinforcement, non merely punishment, to learn the right behaviors.  As a trader, you lot are ever a immature child, ever developing, ever learning.  You desire to hold out as constructive amongst yourself as you lot would hold out for a immature lady or boy you lot love.

Perfectionism wears people down.  Perfectionism tears people down.  We desire to channel frustration toward learning as well as improvement, non toward self-blame.  We desire to straight our anger toward our work patterns, non toward ourselves.  That is a real of import distinction.

So what tin compass the axe nosotros do almost perfectionism?  Three strategies stand upwards out:

1)  Restructuring Our Reviews:  By giving ourselves realistic written report cards, grading each expanse of our trading process, nosotros tin compass the axe readily position what we're doing good as well as what we're doing that needs improvement.  We desire to become frontward amongst positive goals--building on our successes--as good as remediation goals, correcting our weaknesses.  Every review should position strengths as well as improvements as well as should atomic number 82 to goals of continuing to do what is working.  Every review should too focus on constructive steps nosotros conception to accept to improve our shortcomings.  The focus of the review is on improvement, non blame.  We focus on getting better, non beingness perfect.

2)  Cognitive Strategies - The cognitive strategies described inwards cognitive journals--we let ourselves to stand upwards exterior our perfectionistic patterns.  In short, when nosotros adopt a cognitive perspective, nosotros plow rigid, negative thinking into the enemy.  That allows us to coach ourselves inwards an empowering way, non inwards a agency that demoralizes us.

3)  Behavioral Strategies - Very often, perfectionism is triggered past times frustration.  Of course of teaching it's frustrating to accept off a merchandise only to run into it become much farther inwards our direction.  That frustration shows upwards as physiological tension, which inwards plow cues the negative thought patterns.  One of the greatest insights I came to as a trader was the recognition that my pathetic trading was only state-dependent.  When inwards the fight-or-flight mode, I was much to a greater extent than probable to miss what was happening right inwards front end of me as well as impose my ain needs onto markets.  Behavioral strategies let us to delineate dorsum from trading screens as well as alter the dry soil we're in, becoming to a greater extent than calm as well as focused--and much to a greater extent than able to recruit corporation coping skills.

Sometimes negative, perfectionistic thinking is pervasive, occurring across life domains, non merely during trading.  If that is the case, it's worth consulting amongst a psychologist as well as developing a structured conception for changing those patterns.  It's too worth ruling out depression as an underlying problem, as the depressed dry soil tin compass the axe atomic number 82 to chronically negative thought patterns.  As I emphasized inwards the postal service on diagnosing our trading problems, it's ever a alert sign when patterns disrupting our trading are too disrupting other areas of life.  That's when nosotros desire to motion beyond coaching as well as acquire concerted professional person help for overlearned patterns.

We volition never hold out perfect as traders.  That's what keeps us ever-learning, ever-growing.  Our challenge is to role our shortcomings as inspirations, fueling continued improvement.

Further Reading:  How to Separate Frustration From Your Trading

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Info!! When Strengths Conk Derailers

The tricky affair most playing to our strengths is that their potential for interfering amongst progress as well as derailing success.

Consider the next examples:

1)  The diligent difficult worker who periodically burns out as well as fails to keep valuable friendships as well as personal relationships;

2)  The process-oriented trader who develops expert trading habits, exactly fails to nowadays as well as expand those habits;

3)  The trader who processes data real good through teamwork as well as social interaction, exactly who falls prey to consensus thinking;

4)  The caring director who has slap-up relationships amongst employees, exactly avoids conflict as well as does non effectively uphold operate standards;

5)  The trader who is passionate most markets as well as learning most trading as well as who loses coin yesteryear overtrading.

In each case, a forcefulness carries the seed of its ain undoing:  what powers us downward the runway tin give the sack every bit good derail us.

It's a expert exercise:  listing your top iii strengths every bit a trader as well as and then clearly position a nighttime side to each that has, at times, derailed you.  You'll current of air upwards amongst a pretty expert listing of best as well as worst practices that tin give the sack feed your self-awareness as well as guide your trading process.

Further Reading:  Building  Strengths as well as Correcting Weaknesses
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Info!! Keeping Your Pith On The Ideal

As I stressed in an of import before post, keen traders creates bridges betwixt the existent too the ideal: from where they stand upward at in i trial to where they ideally projection themselves inwards the future. In enacting their ideals, they--to paraphrase Ayn Rand--are living inwards the hereafter today. That sense of savor of a brilliant hereafter keeps them motivated too focused. They are non merely concerned amongst solving problems too reducing their bad trading; they're actively trying to ready strengths.

This cardinal postal service on how to modify yourself emphasizes that the cardinal share inwards positive modify is the mightiness to sense ourselves through our ideals. By acting inwards ways that tally our values too goals, nosotros have feedback that affirms those values too goals--and nosotros start to sense ourselves inwards occupation amongst our experience.

From that advantage point, it is far ameliorate to merchandise less often too merchandise exquisitely good than to merchandise oftentimes too haphazardly. Each merchandise is an chance to sense ourselves; each merchandise is a mirror that shows us who nosotros are. What nosotros meet inwards the mirror is what we'll internalize.

What create your trades mirror virtually you? Do your trades mirror confidence, decisiveness, hard-nosed discipline, too creative planning? Do they mirror fear: fright of loss, fright of missing opportunity? Do they mirror frustration too a loss of control?

Traders often desire to modify themselves inwards company to modify their trading. They don't recognize that changing their trading tin larn a powerful machinery for changing themselves. By keeping their eyes on the best inside them, traders tin ready solid bridges from the existent to the ideal too larn the soul that they are when they're at their best.

More:

Correcting Weaknesses yesteryear Building Strengths

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