A very interesting video by Tim Ferriss about his book The 4-Hour Body at Google Talk. If the book title has not stirred interest in you, the subtitle may – an uncommon guide to rapid fat-loss, incredible sex and becoming superhuman.
If you are interested in what Mr. Ferriss did to improve his physique, you can simply read his book.
What makes this video different is that he discussed his methods and experiments done in search of most effective ways to improve human performance.
One insight he has is very interesting – it is the extreme inform the mean not vice-versa. By studying the extreme cases, you learn a lot more about the characteristics of the things you want to understand than just looking at the average or the mean. Isn’t this true for trading for which the extremes matter more than the various summarizing averages and indicators?
Ms. Searle’s moving video tells us her story of courage and ability to cope with adverse scenarios. What she suggests in the video in dealing with life difficulties is equally applicable to trading. Many traders are aware of the importance of their psychological well being but few are aware of their attitudes can negatively impact their trading performance.
One notable attitude many people holds is that losing is a bad thing. The generalization of the word losing in the minds of many people make them feel bad whenever they have a losing trade. The negative attitude towards losing is triggered involuntarily. That in turn increases frustrations and affect the ability to make sound decisions.
Our attitudes towards losing and winning is not something we can get rid of easily. It is partly ingrained in our genes and partly programmed into us from our childhood. Learning to get rid of the negative feeling towards losing trades is already tough enough. So, is there an alternative solution?
At the end of the video, Ms. Seale made a very interesting point on how she practices the enforcement of positive attitude everyday during her solo journey. Her discovery is confirmed by others that similar practice of promoting positive thoughts can help us overcome unexpected adversities with better responses. In other words, the impact of negative attitudes may surface but we can choose to use positive attitudes to overcome the undesirable emotional response.
Isn’t trading a bottom line driven business, for which our ability to handle unexpected situations (where there are many nowadays) is often overlooked and not conditioned enough? If you find that being your weaknesses, you should give Ms. Searle’s suggestions a try.
Trading puts a lot of stress on our brains. Stress hurts our brains. This talk sums up the latest understanding in neuroscience on how to keep our brains healthy. In short, to stay smart one needs to exercise, rest well, eat well and active learning. The extra part about sex … well, I will let you decide.
