Trading Psychology  |  JAN 2005

How Your Stories Shape You by Adrienne Laris Toghraie

Stocks & Commodities V. 23:1 (68-72): How Your Stories Shape You by Adrienne Laris Toghraie The stories you tell reflect your worldview — and they can help you succeed. We all have stories that chronicle our lives. At first glance, these stories seem harmless enough, but the cost of holding onto them can be very high. Instead of illustrating why things have turned out the way they have, these “harmless” stories hold the potential to determine how successful we will become in the future. Some of these stories are more influential than others. The more we reflect on a particular story, the more powerful that story and its message becomes. The level of detail given to our thoughts determines the depth of the feelings associated with them. When our feelings have more depth, they have more power to influence our behavior. If our thoughts about our trading please us, our minds will support us in following the rules of our trading methodology. If our thoughts disturb us and are attached to actions that go against our ingrained rules, our minds will establish a negative pattern of behavior. When these negative thoughts are repeated, breaking those patterns of behavior becomes more difficult. THE BIG FISH THAT GOT AWAY Recently, I worked with a trader named Jack, who loved to relate detailed stories about his ability to forecast market tops and bottoms. Of course, his forecasts made money for everyone but him, or so he claimed. “If only I could act on my own advice, I would be a multimillionaire!” he’d say. Jack clearly felt it was important for me to be aware of this, because he repeated it many times between his stories.

by Adrienne Laris Toghraie