Mike Tyson article and crossover to Trading Psychology.

Often in my coaching work with traders or in one of my training workshops I discuss comparisons to Sport and Trading. There similarities are many: at a broad level I include the following:
Outer Game v Inner Game:

· Outer Game: The level of technical skill, ability and knowledge of the participant: The visible tangible aspect.
· The 'Inner Game': How one utilises and manages their mental, psychological and emotional resources and brings them to the fore to achieve success and victory.

The nature of the opposition and the environment.

· Opposition: External opponents: The challenger(s), opposing team(s), all other competitors, the rest of the market
· The environmental aspects: Weather conditions, surface, crowd, terrain, distance, endurance, rule variations, volatility, liquidity, level of rates, pending data/news announcements, expectations, regulation, etc.
· Opposition: Internal opponent: Ourselves, our insecurities, our inner demons, our self-defeating behaviours.

In my work I often use the following quote which I think aptly captures and encapsulates all these aspects: The quote is Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest: ‘It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves,’

I talk about this because this week I read a fascinating article from New York magazine about Mike Tyson called 'My Life As a Young Thug'. On its own it makes a fascinating read about one of the most brilliant and enigmatic boxers of all time, let alone the past 25 years. Reading through it one gets a real understanding of the social, emotional and psychological factors that made Mike Tyson, as the article says, Mike Tyson. - As I read through it I could not help thinking there was some fascinating insights which could be useful to any trader, both trying to understand themself, and also looking to find insights which could help them in their continual development in the constant struggle against themselves and the markets.

The article can be seen on the following link: http://nymag.com/news/features/mike-tyson-2013-10/

A few of the useful take-aways I took from the article include the following:

Cus D’Amato, Tyson's Trainer to him at the beginning of his career: “Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning. But fear is your best friend. Fear is like fire. If you learn to control it, you let it work for you. If you don’t learn to control it, it’ll destroy you and everything around you."

Cus D’Amato, Tyson's Trainer to him at the beginning of his career: "There is no difference between a hero and a coward in what they feel. It’s what they do that makes them different. The hero and the coward feel exactly the same, but you have to have the discipline to do what a hero does and to keep yourself from doing what the coward does" – For me I could easily see ‘Hero’ being substituted for 'Winner', and ‘Coward’ substituted for ‘Loser’. Thus it could read "There is no difference between a Winner and a Loser in what they feel. It’s what they do that makes them different. The Winner and the Loser feel exactly the same, but you have to have the discipline to do what a Winner does and to keep yourself from doing what the Loser does"

Cus D’Amato would encourage Tyson to exercise a form of Mind-Control by practicing ‘Positive Affirmations’ and repeating them over and over again. – ‘Self Mastery Through ­Conscious Autosuggestion by a French ­pharmacist-psychologist named Emile Coué. Coué would tell his patients to repeat to themselves, “Every day in every way, I am getting better and better,” over and over again.

‘I was so insecure, so afraid. I was so traumatized from people picking on me when I was younger. I just hated the humiliation of being bullied. That feeling sticks with you for the rest of your life.’ This excerpt and article as whole highlights how, to a much larger degree than we realize, are shaped by our experiences when we were young. These experiences, some of which we are conscious of, but many which we are not conscious of, have shaped our mindset, attitude, character and how we react to the external world. – Most significantly we would have been shaped by our parents and even our grandparents both genetically and biologically (neuroscience) and through nurture, (culture, beliefs and behaviours):

As a reminder of the raw-power and energy that was Mike Tyson, I have included an You Tube clip below: