What Is A Mental State?

[vc_row gap=”15″ css=”.vc_custom_1548054038526{margin-right: 20px !important;margin-left: 20px !important;}”][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_cta h2=”Every task has an optimal mental state that will allow you to accomplish that task effortlessly.” txt_align=”center” el_width=”md”][/vc_cta][vc_column_text]For example, to execute a trade you benefit from courage and total commitment. Fear, in contrast, is a big disadvantage as a mental state for executing trades.

Mental states are the primary means for accomplishing what most people call discipline or emotional control. For example, imagine being impatient with the markets, being afraid of the markets or being too optimistic about the markets. The mental states have an emotional component which is unproductive for trading. However, if you believed that all you had to do to invest wisely was pick the right stock–one with good value–and sit back and wait, then there is no surprise that you would become impatient with the markets if you weren’t making money. After all, you did your part. The market needs to hurry up and start making you the money you expect! This is an example of how your belief can lead you to an unproductive mental state.

Admittedly, controlling your mental states is just part of the answer for gaining a super-trader psychology, but when you can see that you are the creator of your own results as a trader, then you have come a long way and can really make progress.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator el_width=”50″][vc_custom_heading text=”Optimal Mental States” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:left|color:%23000000″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]An optimal mental state is context defined by whatever task you are doing. Let me give you two examples. Probably the biggest fear people have is speaking in front of a group. Thus, fear is not an optimal mental state for a speaker. Let’s say your mind is filled with concerns such as:

• What will people think of me?

• Am I getting to everyone?

• Is there anyone who doesn’t like me?

• Am I going to remember to say what I need to say?

Any of those concerns will probably produce a fearful mental state in which you won’t be effective and may even forget what you want to say. That’s far from optimal.

On the other hand, what if you do the following?

• You extend your space so that you fill up the whole room, one of the many examples of how to control your mental state.

• From this state, you feel like you own the room.

• You have total confidence that you know the material and that what you need to say will just come out.

• Or better yet, you trust your intuition to just say it all for you in a much better way than your ego could ever say it.

All of these results will produce a totally confident, in-control person who will do an excellent job of commanding the room and the audience. And that’s an optimal mental state.

There is an optimal mental state for each task of every aspect of trading that we’ve modeled. Let’s look at a simple action state of executing a trade. If your mental state is one of, “Am I doing the right thing? Or what could go wrong?” then you may not even be able to execute the trade. However, if your mental state comes from, “I know this trade has a positive expectancy and I know that my system will make money in these market conditions,” then you will be able to simply execute the trade with no thought and full commitment.

That’s the importance of having an optimal mental state for whatever it is you are doing.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”flash_right_sidebar”][/vc_column][/vc_row]