Top traders cannot be numb to losses because of confidence. They have to feel the pain of loss, but they cannot let anxiety turn into fear.
Facing an important game, professional athletes will say: "If you don't feel nervous, it's not normal. Everyone will worry. Some people may be more willing to expose this emotion to others or themselves, while others are more willing to introspect.
Excellent traders can self-reflect. They constantly re-evaluate their performance and trading methods. This self-reflection process is a common characteristic of top traders. They constantly try to improve themselves and are not afraid of failure."
"No matter how successful you are, no matter how great you are, facing a major game, your stomach will inevitably churn. Traders are the same. You have to learn how to distinguish fear from normal anxiety. You certainly can't trade under the emotion of fear. You can't be afraid to pull the trigger."
"After continuous losses, anxiety naturally arises, and you are very reluctant to pull the trigger. No matter what you do, the result is wrong. Every time you make a trade, the result is a loss. You have to learn how to control this emotion, learn how to control fear. You have to feel the pain caused by loss trades and wrong trades. If you don't feel pain, then you are numb, and your trading career is over. Therefore, you have to experience the feeling of pain, but you can't be afraid because of it."
In some cases, traders will inevitably fall from normal anxiety into abnormal fear. How to overcome emotional obstacles and return to normal trading conditions, everyone's handling methods are different, this is a personality issue.
"As for how to overcome the emotion of fear, I don't know how others deal with it, this is a personal issue. No matter what the psychological driving factor of the individual is, fear comes from within. At three o'clock in the morning, all the lights are off, and only the blue and green data of the Reuters screen flashes and stares at you, your position is getting deeper and deeper, you don't know who to call, and you don't know who to discuss with, no one can tell you what to do."
"Only at this time, you will know whether you are in fear, whether you can overcome fear, and return to objective analysis. You have to decide whether you can continue to bear it or hope to continue to bear it. This is a process of becoming mature."
"Fear brings many physiological signs, sometimes you just want to get sick, this is purely a personal attitude. Few people can or are willing to explore inwardly, forcing themselves to make some fundamental personality adjustments. After reflection, you may get some useful conclusions, or you may not. Of course, this does not mean whether trading can make money, it only represents the ability to deal with fear."
As for how to overcome fear, Bill Lipschutz's words reminded me of dialogue in the movie "Wall Street": "Looking at the abyss, nothing can be seen except darkness. This is when he discovers his personality." The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said: "Personality represents a person's destiny." Pure willpower can overcome any personality obstacles.