Lecture Notes on Mental Analysis and Day Trading

Introduction

• Goal: Understand mental analysis in the context of day trading.
• Steps:
  1. Identify why people fail at mastering mental analysis.
  2. Break down roadblocks into four main categories: subconscious mind, cognitive abilities, environment, and mind attributes.

Subconscious Mind

• How it works:
  • Example: Childhood conditioning to finish all food on plate leads to overeating/undereating.
• Day Trading Example:
  • Seeing others succeed can make traders doubt their own abilities.
  • Common thoughts: "Why wasn't I in that trade?", "Why am I not smart enough?", "Others make money, I lose."
  • These thoughts create a negative feedback loop.

Emotional Responses

• Impact on Subconscious:
  • Emotional reactions reinforce negative subconscious thoughts.
  • Examples: Feeling anxious or annoyed in specific environments.
• Plan: Develop strategies to manage emotional responses.

Environment

• Definition: The physical and mental surroundings that affect performance.
  • Mechanical solutions: Simple actionable steps to improve environment (e.g., one coffee cup rule).
• Impact on Trading:
  • Clean vs. dirty workspace and its effect on emotions and productivity.
  • Distraction from non-trading activities (e.g., checking sports scores).
• Sociocultural factors:
  • Influence of societal expectations and norms on individual behavior.
  • Example: Family and friends not supporting day trading as a career.

Cognitive Analysis

• Definition: Study of internal mental processes like memory, attention, decision-making.
• Trading Context:
  • Decision making affected by past experiences and mental state.
  • Cognitive malfunctions: Errors in decision-making processes.
• Perception and its challenges:
  • Perception of difficult tasks and learning new skills as challenges or opportunities.
  • Most difficult cognitive trait to overcome due to lack of mechanical solutions.

Advanced Mental Analysis System: DEVICES

• Proprietary System: Methodology to tackle mental roadblocks.
  • Dexterity: Adaptability.
  • Endurance: Efficiency over long periods.
  • Vitality: Recovery handling.
  • Intelligence: Creative problem-solving.
  • Charisma: Bouncing back from defeat.
  • Energy: Full engagement during high demand.
  • Strength: Perseverance.
• Purpose: Vehicle to break through mental roadblocks and achieve goals.

Conclusion

• Summary:
  • Identified and understood major roadblocks in mental analysis.
  • Introduced DEVICES system as a tool for overcoming these roadblocks.
  • First step in a series of lessons towards mastering mental analysis.