There are lots of common mistakes made by traders.

That’s to be expected. After all, it’s one of those businesses where just about anyone with little or no training and very little capital can start.

And no matter how much you might try to learn in advance, you’ll still end up needing to learn on the job.

The problem of course is that mistakes are costly. And many find the cost to be too high before they learn how to eliminate the mistakes.

Then they are out of the game.

 

Common Mistakes with Mindfulness

Learning mindfulness can be a bit like that.

It’s easy to get into, but you can ultimately only learn it by doing it.

And just like in trading, there are a number of common mistakes that people make.

The result is the same: they give up before they reap the benefits.

Here are a few of the most common mistakes.

You won’t be able to avoid them all. But knowing what the watch out for will help.

 

1. Not Preparing to Learn

If you do not make the effort to prepare yourself to learn before start to do so it’s a good indication that you are not committed to learning.

You wouldn’t do a parachute jump without preparing yourself beforehand.

There are clear dangers. So you minimize them by preparation.

Obviously the physical dangers are not so great or so obvious when it comes to doing a course in mindfulness.

But the result will still be failure.

After all, if you are not willing to put in the time to prepare, then why might you think that you will be prepared to put in the time and effort to learn.

Taking the time to prepare is an important element of the Free Introductory Mindfulness Course.

Have you downloaded your copy of the Free 15 day Introductory Course on Mindfulness for Traders?
You can get immediate access by clicking here.

 

2. Not being Patient

Mindfulness is not a skill you will get from reading a book or from spending a certain length of time repeating a task.

And yet, it is necessary to read and to follow instructions while undertaking guided exercises.

You can set the pace. But you must not force the pace.

You need to follow a process and take yourself into this new way of thinking and living.

Make it happen. But give yourself time to adjust.

 

3. Judging

Being non-judgmental is a core component of mindfulness.

You observe. You do not categorize, rationalize or judge what you find.

You do not judge what you are doing.

You do not judge yourself or your performance (or anyone else).

You do not judge changes (or lack of change).

You just do what is required.

You observe.

You become truly impartial.

 

4. Setting Targets and Goals

Learning to be mindful is a process but it is not one where you should be setting targets.

Certainly you should set about the course in a planned manner and try to stick to a timetable.

Yes you should monitor your progress and, more, keep a journal of how you are doing.

But this is different from setting a target because a target, if it is meaningful, must be set with respect to some standard and needs some form of sanction if it is missed.

But you don’t have a standard against which you can assess you performance. You simply monitor it.

And you certainly should not have any sanction if you are not progressing as you expected.

 

5. Lack of Acceptance

Mindfulness is almost certainly new to most people, especially traders.

Much of what is involved may seem to conflict with what you know or think you know.

And a lot of it is not fully explained in a way that would pass scientific review.

It can be very easy to become cynical or be negative.

Even if not so then it can be difficult to remain patient, waiting for something to happen.

There can be many reasons why you experience an inner refusal to accept what is being said.

But there is only one way to avoid this mistake – just accept it.

Don’t look for deeper explanation.

Wasn’t it Einstein who said that we cannot solve problems with the same thinking we used when we created them?

You cannot move to mindfulness using the same thinking that has gotten you this far in life but has created a clamor in your mind.

If you are new to mindfulness then you must avoid these common mistakes

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