You don't see too many discussions of failed coaching among traders. The reality of the outcome research, however, is that, while a majority of people receiving psychological help will benefit (compared with people receiving no help or a placebo intervention), a significant proportion of those individuals will not retain their gains over a 6-12 month period. This is known as the relapse problem, and it is one of the most important reasons that the coaching of traders doesn't yield meaningful results.
We're accustomed to thinking about relapse in the context of counseling/therapy for substance use disorders and other addictive problems. Research tells us, however, that relapse rates are just as high for many other problems, from marital discord to depression. After all, how many of us have made efforts to change our patterns of eating or exercise, only to relapse into old ways?
There's a sense in which making changes is easy. The hard part is sustaining those. In a motivated state, when we're emotionally connected to the consequences of our problem patterns, we can muster the will to do things differently. Once that emotional connection is gone, however, we tend to lapse into what is most familiar.
Change is most likely to stick when we overlearn new patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. It's when we make changes again, and again, and again across a variety of situations that those changes begin to become second nature to us. When the coaching process is too brief or intermittent, those opportunities for overlearning may be insufficient for the internalization of change. That makes it easier to fall into old patterns.
For traders serving as their own coaches, it is helpful to keep a journal of your change efforts, tracking your specific change efforts every day for at least a full month. The daily effort, repeated with consistency, will increase the odds that the changes will become an automatic part of your repertoire.
When people need help with alcohol problems, the folks at AA will encourage them to attend 90 meetings in 90 days. That's great advice for any change process. Make the change 90 times in 90 days. AA knows that "when you bring the body, the mind will change." Similarly, when you make the consistent efforts, the changes will become automatic.
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4 comments:
Wonderful post!
"There's a sense in which making changes is easy"
Not so! People make the mistake in thinking that, because they are intelligent, rational, or motivated, that change SHOULD be easy. But how long did it take for them to learn to ride a bicycle, hit a fastball (or curveball), play scales on a piano, or do the multiplication tables?
Old joke: A man is running around New York and spots a street musician. He says, "Hey buddy. How do I get to Carnegie Hall?"
"Practice, practice, practice".
Brett
I concur with Dr B Hong.
When I started to play the piano very late in my life, the only way I overcame my frustrations was to practise 4 to 5 hours a day just playing scales until my fingers became nimble.
After that, I could proceed to play simple tunes and in less than a year attempting Fur Elise!
Applying this principle of Practice, Practice, Practice is the only way to become good at trading or any thing.
Even after you make it to Carnegie Hall, there is still room for improvement. Staying on top of your field requires you to continuously challenge a top quality benchmark. Improving and learning is an on-going process that should never stop.
This is my favorite quote from "The Expert Mind" by Philip E. Ross (published in Scientific American):
"Ericsson argues that what matters is not experience per se but “ effortful study,” which entails continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond one’s competence. That is why it is possible for enthusiasts to spend tens of thousands of hours playing chess or golf or a musical instrument without ever advancing beyond the amateur level and why a properly trained student can overtake them in a relatively short time. It is interesting to note that time spent playing chess, even in tournaments, appears to contribute less than such study to a player’s progress; the main training value of such games is to point up weaknesses for future study.
Even the novice engages in effortful study at first, which is why beginners so often improve rapidly in playing golf, say or in driving a car. But having reached an acceptable performance – for instance, keeping up with one’s golf buddies or passing a driver’s exam – most people relax. Their performance then becomes automatic and therefore impervious to further improvement. In contrast, experts-in-training keep the lid of their mind’s box open all the time, so that they can inspect, criticize and augment its content and thereby approach the standard set by leaders in their fields."
CharlesP
Great points about practice being what cements change!
Brett
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