Stuck in Purgatory

Are you stuck in a place or condition of temporal punishment that you have inflicted on yourself, because you are not willing to overcome the self-sabotage that is holding you back from becoming a successful trader? If you are, then you are in a place of what I call trader purgatory. The good news about trader purgatory is that you can decide when you want to extricate yourself from this limiting place so that you can perform at the level that you know is possible.

Several years ago I worked with a trader by the name of Tim. He said that it took ten years before he made it to my coaching. He was a consistent trader who supplemented his income by earning an average of two hundred dollars a day by devoting 20 hours a week at his computer. He worked as a full-time contractor, which he said was getting hard on his body. When he fell off a ladder and broke his arm and shoulder, he decided to work with me. After we worked together privately, he eventually was able to give up his job as a contractor and devote his full effort to trading. We spoke 5 years later and he said that by his calculation his procrastination about handling his self-sabotage cost him over 7 million, more time at what he loved, a divorce and permanent damage to his back.

One of the questions I ask traders who are in trader purgatory is, “How passionate are you about trading?” If their answer is that they just like it, or it is like an avocation then they should keep doing what they are doing. But if I see their face light up and they say to me, “I would do it even if I did not make money,” or “This is all I want to do with my life,” then I will encourage them to do whatever it takes to have a break-through. Yes, there are many excuses that are valid such as not having money or your spouse will not let you invest in trading. With those excuses and many more I've seen miracles happen when a trader is passionate about trading.

I met Robert and his wife Peggy at a trade show. She said to me that she felt like her husband had a mistress and that mistress was trading. Robert said that he did not feel his wife supported him in trading and it was a strain on their relationship. I asked Robert how much time he spent on trading and what was he earning. He said sixty hours a week and he averaged about two hundred dollars a day. I asked Peggy if Robert only put in 30 hours a week and spent 20 of those hours doing things with you, would she support Robert's trading. Then I asked Robert if he were to earn 2 times or more in trading in only 30 hours, would he be willing to spend 20 of those hours with his wife. He was uncomfortable but said yes. Robert came to my seminar and now has tripled his income. Peggy is happy without having to live with the trading mistress.

* How much would you be earning if you were consistent? * If you had less stress and more income, what would that mean to you? * If you were to continue to produce the same income from trading for the next five years, would you be satisfied? * How would your life be different if you were to reap the benefits of what your strategy was tested to bring in?

If trading is your passion and you know you have a strategy that is viable do whatever it takes to realize your potential. If you do not, you will keep yourself in trader purgatory.

coaches traders and investors to their next level of success by helping them overcome their self-imposed limitations. She has been a keynote speaker since 1989, author of 13 books, and owner of