I have heard this quote many a times “ Opportunities are like sunrises, if you wait too long you miss them”.
How does the world look to you through different phases of your life?
For instance to me at the age of 6 or 7 years the world looked full of activity, games, with a lot of older children who seemed to have more fun cycling bigger cycles, older people who did not have schools who made their own decision. Sometimes life was a little unfair as I had to get up at a particular time, eat at a particular time, play for a specified time and sleep at a particular time.
As a teen of 15 years embarking to live in my uncles house in Bangalore it looked on one side as a free world where I was endowed with decision making power and on the other side I had huge responsibility and was accountable for my actions.
Today the world looks to me as one with immense possibilities without any regrets.
Who created this world with various emotions and sentiments between different individuals as they appear to me? Isn’t it us or me in this specific case. The one that sees the world, that gives it names as to how peaceful it or how disruptive, how beautiful relationships are or how ugly. It is me who gives the appropriate adjective to my world basis the story I have created in my head on my experience with the environment in which I am the protagonist.
So I having missed the opportunity is it my imagination or did I really miss it?
Our world is both real and unreal, fanciful and logical all at once. My reasons to not take action is very real to me, the stories and experiences, the build up of fear is very real to me and hence I end up missing an opportunity. What actually transpires is I am either re-living the past or living the future. My fear is drawn from my experiences in the past and applied to the outcome in the future and hence I fail to live the present. The NOW is nowhere in picture. The opportunity when it occurs is in the present.
When you are in the present there is no missed opportunity. You have put an effort consciously to its optimum and have to take a conscious decision. So if you have not taken up something after assessing your time availability without thinking about the future outcome or past responses you are in complete acceptance of the decision and there is no way you would slip into the denial mode.
Likewise in trading every execution is in the present. Non-execution as per system represents a missed opportunity but it also represents your choice of not holding on to the system that has been exercised by you. Only when you acknowledge that you be able to address it.
Then how does one always stay in the present? It is possible by adding a small routine below to your daily ritual?
- Write down specific thoughts that run in your mind during or about trading.
- Identify related conditioning for the above thoughts and start grouping so you may have multiple thoughts growing from same conditioning.
- Observe how many times these thoughts occur in the week and notice the pattern. Also observe what triggers them.
- Once you identify the triggers and if a trigger has occurred, bring forward a very happy memory from your past immediately or see a funny video.
- Additionally, Break your day to include activities that you love doing the most at frequent intervals, play a game that is physically exhausting, watch a very funny movie etc.,
- As you wind up your day, 15 mins before you hit the bed visualize what all you would like to achieve for yourself the next day.
Notice that whenever you are enjoying what you are doing utmost, or you are totally involved in something, or you are very happy you stay in the present. Once you start observing your patterns every day and include activities to break this pattern. Your drifting away into the past for a negative comparison will slowly start fading and you then start walking towards your freedom from missed opportunities.