Trading can often be very difficult to manage as a business, when you are doing it all by yourself. Every single day you have to get up in the morning and repeat the same tasks over and over again. It can quickly become frustrating, especially in the beginning, when you are not really seeing any outcome of your hard work.

If you have to motivate yourself every day to get started, there is a problem already present. You are not a trader just yet, because you have to overcome the resistance that is constantly present in the background. Think about some other areas of your life, your hobbies, what really interests you? Do you have to struggle to get started in these areas?

Unless we learn to do all the tasks related to trading with enjoyment, we are not traders. We are simple trying to force ourselves into becoming what we are not. The only way to solve this problem is to work with our beliefs.

Try asking yourself, what is it that generates resistance to trading work in your mind? What beliefs do you hold that constantly come up and often do not allow you to work for 8 hours straight with ease and joy?

Here is a sample list:

1. Trading is boring
2. It is not “right” to speculate (due to your religious, political or any other beliefs – examine those)
3. Trading is too difficult
4. I need someone to tell me what to do in order to do it right
5. I don’t like working alone
6. I can’t work from home
7. I don’t want to spend so much time at the computer every day
8. My family/friends do not believe in me succeeding and so I can’t take my trading seriously
9. I am too disorganized
10. I am lazy
11. I am not smart enough to trade
12. I cannot concentrate well enough
13. I don’t like getting up so early
14. I don’t like going to sleep so late
15. I am not lucky (examine your beliefs related to trading being “just luck”)

I could easily continue the list on and on, but the whole point is for each of us to discover our own limiting beliefs.

Let’s examine the first belief, “Trading is boring” in more detail.

1. I could care less where the Market will go (great, you already have one of the most important components of a successful trader!)
2. I don’t understand the Market (do you have to?)
3. I don’t enjoy analyzing the Market (the better you get at something, the more you enjoy it – I did not enjoy practicing guitar the first couple months too)
4. It is too difficult to keep all the information in my head (make notes, take screenshots, write a blog!)
5. I am too tired and I am falling asleep as I watch the Market (review your sleeping schedule and eating habits, make sure you drink water ALL THE TIME, review your alcohol/smoking/caffeine addiction)

Once again, this is just an example of how we must take each of our beliefs and break them down into aspects in order to discover what is really limiting our full potential.

Unless you are ready to become self aware and look inside yourself – trading is not for you. Stop wasting your time, your family’s money and go find something you can be truly good at.