In my coaching work with traders, there have been many cases where I have found occurrences of procrastination. Procrastination takes on many forms, the classic definition is ‘putting off to tomorrow what we can do today’, however I tend to see it the way Piers Steel, author of ‘The Procrastination Equation’, describes it; ‘one procrastinates when one delays beginning’. – In a trading sense this manifests itself in many ways; failure to plan, failure to stick to a plan, perfectionism – waiting for the perfect set-up and hence not acting, hesitancy in pulling the trigger, choosing the safer option by continuing to analyse and watch the market rather than place the trade, which often leads to the cry –‘I knew that was going to happen’, or something along those lines. – One of my favourite quotes on trading is by Warren Buffett: – ‘Predicting rain doesn’t count, buildings arks does’.
Procrastination is a deeply entrenched habit.
The problem for many is that procrastination is a deeply ingrained habit; it is something we have learned to do throughout our life. – I have often harped on about ‘the 10,000 hour rule’, and how practice makes perfect, well during our lives it is quite possible we have spent many thousands of hours practicing at procrastinating, as such this has formed into a well entrenched and fully automated habit. Fortunately there is help at hand, and that helps involves developing new habits, habits which override and usurp that bad habits which are part of procrastination. Unfortunately for many procrastinators, it takes time, commitment, planning, effort and application, and as we know that is one thing which many procrastinators are not good at.
I will reference a couple of articles which explain a little more about procrastination, some of the causes of procrastination, and steps we can take to start overcoming procrastination. Before I do however I want to introduce the following excerpt by Daniel Goleman, in ‘Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence – Selected Writings’ where he talks about trying to from new habits as a way of usurping old habits.
‘Doing the wrong thing is a habit that you have become an Olympic level master at—your neural wiring has made it a default option, what you do automatically. The neural connectivity for that is strong. When you start to form the new, better habit you essentially are creating new circuitry that competes with your old habit in a kind of neural Darwinism. To make the new habit strong enough, you have to use the power of neuroplasticity—you have to do it over and over again.
If you persist in the better habit, that new circuitry will connect and become more and more powerful, until one day you’ll do the right thing in the right way without a second thought. That means the circuitry has become so connected and thick that this is the brain’s new default option. With that change in the brain, the better habit will become your automatic choice.’
Procrastinators will always be recovering procrastinators.
‘Old habits don’t die, they merely hibernate’: It only takes a stimulus from the old days to return for the dormant pattern to re-assert itself. This is why no one is ever considered cured of alcoholism; instead it is drummed into them by Alcoholics Anonymous that they will always be recovering alcoholics, this mindset helps keep them on guard against returning to the habit. This is something we all have to guard against when trying to form a new habit, hence it is useful to try and adopt a mindset that helps us to overcome these issues. Of course, procrastination does not have the same level of gravitas as ‘alcoholism’, and hence we are not likely to carry this around with us in our mindset to the same degree, also we cannot avoid the environment of work, like we can a pub or bar. However, we can take actions to try and keep it at the forefront of our minds; after all it is almost certainly serious enough to make a major dent in your earnings from trading, or even to be a cause of trading failure. I suggest placing small reminders around which are intended to jog our memory of the beneficial habit and thus avoiding returning to the destructive habit. Maintaining a journal, and placing reminders prominently in the journal are useful, also small physical reminders and inspirations are useful around your work place, and perhaps well located in your home.
Links to articles about procrastination and steps to overcome it.
‘Doing the wrong thing is a habit that you have become an Olympic level master at—your neural wiring has made it a default option, what you do automatically. The neural connectivity for that is strong. When you start to form the new, better habit you essentially are creating new circuitry that competes with your old habit in a kind of neural Darwinism. To make the new habit strong enough, you have to use the power of neuroplasticity—you have to do it over and over again.
If you persist in the better habit, that new circuitry will connect and become more and more powerful, until one day you’ll do the right thing in the right way without a second thought. That means the circuitry has become so connected and thick that this is the brain’s new default option. With that change in the brain, the better habit will become your automatic choice.’
Procrastinators will always be recovering procrastinators.
‘Old habits don’t die, they merely hibernate’: It only takes a stimulus from the old days to return for the dormant pattern to re-assert itself. This is why no one is ever considered cured of alcoholism; instead it is drummed into them by Alcoholics Anonymous that they will always be recovering alcoholics, this mindset helps keep them on guard against returning to the habit. This is something we all have to guard against when trying to form a new habit, hence it is useful to try and adopt a mindset that helps us to overcome these issues. Of course, procrastination does not have the same level of gravitas as ‘alcoholism’, and hence we are not likely to carry this around with us in our mindset to the same degree, also we cannot avoid the environment of work, like we can a pub or bar. However, we can take actions to try and keep it at the forefront of our minds; after all it is almost certainly serious enough to make a major dent in your earnings from trading, or even to be a cause of trading failure. I suggest placing small reminders around which are intended to jog our memory of the beneficial habit and thus avoiding returning to the destructive habit. Maintaining a journal, and placing reminders prominently in the journal are useful, also small physical reminders and inspirations are useful around your work place, and perhaps well located in your home.
Links to articles about procrastination and steps to overcome it.
The following link is to an article from the 'Psych Central’ website. It discusses some of the causes of Procrastination, included in these are Irrational beliefs, Perfectionism, Fear, and Disorganization, some or all of which are aspects which traders should be able to identify with.
http://psychcentral.com/library/procrastination.html
The second link attached is the follow-up to this, it includes how to tackle procrastination and how to take greater control of your ‘self’, which I believe should help lead to ‘better trading’. Amongst one of the steps recommended is keeping my old friend ‘the journal’, something which I strongly advocate to all traders.
http://psychcentral.com/library/procrastination.html
And finally, I shall finish with a humourous quote by Gloria Pitzer -
“Procrastination is my sin. It brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will--tomorrow”
http://psychcentral.com/library/procrastination.html
The second link attached is the follow-up to this, it includes how to tackle procrastination and how to take greater control of your ‘self’, which I believe should help lead to ‘better trading’. Amongst one of the steps recommended is keeping my old friend ‘the journal’, something which I strongly advocate to all traders.
http://psychcentral.com/library/procrastination.html
And finally, I shall finish with a humourous quote by Gloria Pitzer -
“Procrastination is my sin. It brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will--tomorrow”
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