How I was able to become profitable after 2.5 years of losing money

Justin Werlein
18 Apr 202425:18

Summary

TLDRIn this candid video, the speaker shares personal trading experiences, emphasizing the journey from losing around $25,000 in the first three years to becoming profitable with earnings of $330,000 and $300,000 in subsequent years. He discusses the pitfalls of seeking validation on social media and the importance of self-accountability and mental shifts in trading. The key takeaway is to focus on building good trading habits rather than being preoccupied with making money, as the latter often leads to poor decisions. The speaker also highlights the significance of journaling to identify and rectify personal trading issues, advocating for a mindset where one finds satisfaction in the process rather than the financial outcome.

Takeaways

  • 📈 The speaker emphasizes the importance of focusing on the process of trading rather than the outcome of making money.
  • 🔄 The video discusses the journey from losing to becoming profitable in trading, highlighting the mental shift required for success.
  • 🤔 The speaker warns against the pitfalls of comparing oneself to others on social media, which can lead to a false sense of progress.
  • 📉 The importance of learning from losses and becoming desensitized to them is stressed, as it's a part of trading and scaling.
  • 🧠 There's a call for traders to practice self-accountability and self-recognition, acknowledging personal emotions and problems.
  • 💡 The 'aha' moment for the speaker was realizing the need to shift focus from the idea of making money to building good trading habits.
  • 💰 The speaker advises to be unattached to money in trading, suggesting that emotional control is key to scaling and long-term success.
  • 🔢 Journaling is presented as a crucial tool for traders to identify and correct personal problems and to break even or improve.
  • 🚫 The video script cautions against the trap of seeking validation from others and the pressure it can create to take unnecessary risks.
  • 🔄 The concept of a 'mental trash bin' for money is introduced, where traders should be comfortable with the idea of losing a set amount of money as part of scaling up.
  • 📝 The speaker encourages traders to find satisfaction in executing trades correctly, regardless of whether they result in profit or loss.

Q & A

  • What is the main theme of the video?

    -The main theme of the video is the speaker's personal journey and experiences in trading, emphasizing the importance of focusing on building good habits rather than just making money.

  • How did the speaker initially struggle with trading?

    -The speaker initially struggled by losing money for around 3 years, amounting to $25,000 to $30,000, due to being more focused on the perception of profitability rather than actual profitability.

  • What was the speaker's first year's profit after becoming profitable?

    -The speaker made $330,000 in their first profitable year.

  • What is the significance of being unattached to money in trading according to the speaker?

    -Being unattached to money in trading is significant because it allows traders to focus on the process and habits rather than the outcome, which in turn leads to better decision-making and long-term profitability.

  • What does the speaker suggest as a method to improve as a trader?

    -The speaker suggests journaling as a method to improve as a trader, as it helps in identifying and addressing personal problems and unnecessary losses.

  • Why does the speaker emphasize not comparing oneself to others in trading?

    -The speaker emphasizes not comparing oneself to others because everyone is on a unique journey with different experiences, and comparing can lead to unnecessary stress and incorrect self-perception.

  • How does the speaker describe the importance of mental maturity in trading?

    -The speaker describes mental maturity in trading as crucial for self-accountability and self-recognition, which are necessary for making rational decisions and avoiding emotional trading.

  • What is the 'mental trash bin' concept mentioned by the speaker?

    -The 'mental trash bin' concept refers to having a predetermined amount of money that one is mentally prepared to lose when scaling up in trading, which helps in being comfortable with larger trades and potential losses.

  • What advice does the speaker give for breaking the even stage in trading?

    -The speaker advises journaling to identify and fix personal problems that lead to unnecessary small losses, which is a common issue for traders at the break-even stage.

  • How does the speaker view the role of a trader?

    -The speaker views the role of a trader as an observer and a risk-taker, with no personal connection to the trades, and emphasizes the importance of making decisions based on habits and strategies rather than emotions.

  • What is the speaker's perspective on making money in trading?

    -The speaker's perspective is that making money in trading is not an end in itself but a result of following proper habits and strategies. He warns against the misconception that making money automatically means doing something right.

Outlines

00:00

🎥 Authentic Trading Journey and Overcoming Social Media Pressure

The speaker introduces a candid video about their trading experience, which differs from their usual content. They discuss the importance of authenticity and natural dialogue over scripted presentations. The speaker shares their personal trading journey, starting in high school and facing significant financial losses initially. They highlight the psychological challenges of comparing oneself to others on social media and the realization that being perceived as profitable was more important to them than actual profitability. This led to a lack of accountability and repeated mistakes. The speaker emphasizes the uniqueness of each trading journey and warns against seeking validation from others, urging viewers to focus on their own progress instead.

05:02

📈 Transitioning from Unprofitable to Profitable Trading Through Mental Shifts

The speaker delves into their transition from unprofitable to profitable trading, attributing success not to a specific strategy but to a significant mental shift. They stress the importance of being detached from the outcome of monetary gains or losses, focusing instead on building good trading habits and processes. The speaker shares insights on scaling in trading, suggesting that one must be comfortable with the idea of losing a certain amount of money to effectively scale up. They introduce the concept of a 'mental trash bin'—a set amount of money one is willing to lose without emotional attachment—to facilitate a healthy mindset for scaling and maintaining discipline in trading.

10:02

🧘‍♂️ The Significance of Mental Discipline and Journaling in Trading

The speaker underscores the psychological aspects of trading, emphasizing that 80% to 90% of trading success is mental. They discuss the need for mental preparedness to handle losses as part of the trading process. The speaker shares personal strategies for scaling, such as accepting potential losses before entering trades and having a 'mental trash bin' of cash that signifies a level of financial loss they are comfortable with. They also stress the importance of journaling for self-assessment and improvement, suggesting that it is essential for breaking even and moving towards profitability. The speaker encourages traders to focus on building good habits rather than solely on making money.

15:04

📊 The Role of Journaling and Mindset in Trading Success

The speaker continues to emphasize the importance of journaling as a tool for identifying and addressing personal trading weaknesses. They argue that being at a break-even point in trading is an opportunity for growth, achievable through diligent journaling and self-reflection. The speaker points out that common issues, such as taking unnecessary small losses, can be rectified through journaling. They stress that without recognizing and addressing personal problems, traders will continue to repeat the same mistakes, hindering their progress. The speaker also touches on the dangers of focusing solely on making money, which can lead to poor decision-making and a lack of discipline.

20:06

💡 Reprogramming for Satisfaction in Habits Over Monetary Outcomes

The speaker discusses the process of reprogramming one's mindset to derive satisfaction from building good trading habits rather than from monetary gains. They share their personal experience of reaching a point where they are indifferent to daily profits or losses, focusing instead on adhering to their trading strategy and rules. The speaker argues that success in trading comes from having the discipline to follow a system and from being able to recognize and accept losses when they occur within that system. They stress that traders should seek satisfaction from executing trades correctly, regardless of the financial outcome, as this approach leads to long-term profitability.

25:08

🌐 Embracing the Observer Role and Disconnecting from Market Outcomes

In the final paragraph, the speaker reiterates the importance of viewing oneself as an observer and risk-taker in the market, rather than becoming emotionally invested in the trades. They discuss the need to disconnect from the market's immediate outcomes and to focus on making sound decisions based on one's trading plan. The speaker warns against the pitfalls of over-trading and emotional reactions, advocating instead for a disciplined approach to trading. They also mention their current location in Sardinia and express their enjoyment of creating unscripted, authentic content, inviting feedback from viewers on this style of communication.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Accountability

Accountability in the context of the video refers to the personal responsibility one has for their actions and decisions, particularly in trading. The speaker emphasizes the importance of taking accountability for one's trading actions instead of seeking validation from others or social media. It is a crucial aspect of personal growth and improvement as a trader, as it leads to self-reflection and the correction of mistakes.

💡Perception vs. Reality

The concept of perception versus reality is highlighted when the speaker discusses the difference between being perceived as profitable and actually being profitable. In the video, he shares his personal experience of focusing more on how others saw his trading success rather than the actual profitability. This distinction is important as it can lead to a false sense of accomplishment and hinder genuine progress in trading.

💡Social Media Influence

Social Media Influence is a key concept in the video where the speaker talks about the impact of platforms like Twitter and Instagram on a trader's mindset. He warns against comparing oneself to others and seeking validation from social media, which can lead to an unhealthy focus on appearances rather than actual trading performance.

💡Mental Maturity

Mental Maturity is described as the level of emotional and psychological development necessary for a trader to recognize their own mistakes and make necessary changes. The speaker mentions that reaching this point of mental maturity is crucial for a trader's success, as it involves self-awareness and the ability to make rational decisions independently of emotions.

💡Habits

Habits are repeatedly emphasized as foundational to successful trading. The speaker suggests that building good habits, rather than focusing on making money, is the key to long-term profitability. Habits in this context refer to consistent behaviors and practices that guide trading decisions and actions, ensuring a structured and disciplined approach to the market.

💡Disassociation from Money

Disassociation from money is a mental shift that the speaker identifies as critical for scaling in trading. It involves being emotionally detached from the monetary outcomes of trades, which helps in making rational decisions based on trading strategies rather than fear or greed. The speaker shares his personal 'mental trash bin' concept as a method to practice this disassociation.

💡Scaling

Scaling in trading refers to the process of increasing the size of one's trades or positions over time. The speaker discusses his approach to scaling, which includes being comfortable with losing larger amounts of money and having a mental preparedness for potential losses. This concept is integral to managing risk and emotional control as trading size increases.

💡Journaling

Journaling is presented as a vital practice for traders to assess and improve their trading strategies. The speaker stresses the importance of documenting every trade to identify patterns, correct mistakes, and refine one's approach. Journaling helps in breaking the even stage by providing insights into personal trading habits and decision-making processes.

💡Break-Even Stage

The break-even stage is a point in a trader's journey where they are neither consistently profitable nor losing, but rather their gains and losses balance out. The speaker identifies journaling as a key method to overcome this stage by making traders more aware of their trading habits and enabling them to make necessary adjustments to their strategies.

💡Mental Mastery

Mental Mastery is the ultimate goal for a trader according to the speaker. It involves a deep understanding of oneself as a trader and the ability to control emotions and reactions to market conditions. The speaker shares that mental mastery is achieved by focusing on building good habits and being satisfied with the process of trading, rather than the financial outcome.

Highlights

The video is a raw and unscripted discussion about the trader's personal journey and experiences.

Started trading in high school and initially lost around $25,000 to $30,000 in the first three years.

Became profitable in the fourth year, making $330,000, and continued to make $300,000 in the following year.

Shares struggles and hurdles faced during the early years of trading.

The danger of comparing oneself to others on social media and the negative impact on trading psychology.

The importance of focusing on the process of trading rather than the profit.

The realization that being perceived as profitable was more important than actual profitability.

The need for self-accountability and recognizing personal trading mistakes.

The transition from unprofitable to profitable trading involved a mental shift rather than a specific strategy.

The concept of being unattached to money and focusing on building good trading habits.

Scaling in trading requires a complete disconnect from the emotional aspect of money.

Using a 'mental trash bin' approach to accept potential losses while scaling up in trading.

The importance of journaling every trade to identify and correct personal trading issues.

Making money does not necessarily mean doing something right, and losing money does not mean doing something wrong.

The necessity to build habits that protect profits and manage losses in the long term.

The trader's perspective on satisfaction derived from building good habits rather than making money.

The video concludes with the trader's intention to do more unscripted, one-on-one talks if well received by the audience.

Transcripts

play00:00

welcome to this video this is going to

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be a little bit different than um some

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of the content I normally post I'm

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literally just is going to be just

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completely raw pressing the record

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button and um whatever I say is is

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whatever I say so um I kind of wanted

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this video to be to be more real more

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natural and just talk about some

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specific stuff that I want um you guys

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to know about my trading some hurdles

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that I was able to get through over time

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how I was able to get there how I was

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able to scale um and just a little bit

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about my journey and just kind of share

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with you guys some some knowledge that

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that I would that I would like you guys

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to have as well

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so um little bit of like a back story um

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started trading freshman year of high

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school um ended up losing money for

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around 3 years lost around $25 $30,000

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in those first 3 years um ended up

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becoming profitable the first year that

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I was profitable I made

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$330,000 year after that also made

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another

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$300,000 this is now going into that

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fifth year so

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or I'm now going into the six year sorry

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I was I was confused on that I want to

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talk about some struggles that I had

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along the way that I think a lot of you

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guys can benefit from um during my first

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one two years into trading um I was like

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a lot of people that get into the

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trading space a lot of the time they're

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on social media on Twitter on Instagram

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looking at a lot of other Traders and at

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that point you have to be very careful

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because a lot of people don't realize

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that they end up cheating themselves by

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doing this um and what that thing is is

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I cared more about being perceived as

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profitable than actually being

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profitable at that point in time because

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I would go on Twitter I would go on

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Instagram after a day of being read and

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I would look at social media and see all

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of these people who are making money and

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I would look at myself and say what is

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wrong with me like why why can't I do

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this am I am I not good enough all these

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other people can do it why can't I do it

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I started caring more about

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that that idea of just being profitable

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instead of actually being profitable and

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especially when you're constantly

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looking at social media and you're

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looking at all these YouTubers and all

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these Traders Traders some of these

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[ __ ] and you want that feeling

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and I cared more about being perceived

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as profitable so what would happen was

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is I would make the same mistakes over

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and over and over again but yet I

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wouldn't take any accountability before

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it because I had a vision in my mind of

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me being profitable without actually

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being profitable and that was the

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problem I cared more about people being

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people perceiving me as profitable than

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actually being profitable and I ended

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cheating myself because of it so the

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people that are on social media you

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normal do not compare yourself to other

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people every single person is on their

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own Journey everybody is on their own

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step you cannot compare your step 25

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with somebody else's step 250 you guys

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are on completely unique Journeys you

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guys have completely unique experiences

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and there is no reason you should be

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comparing them whatsoever

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so the main thing you should just be

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focusing on is are you doing what you

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need to be doing because it's so easy to

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get caught up in looking at social media

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you want to post you know your winnings

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you want to be like oh look at this

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trade I took look at this money I'm

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making just don't cheat yourself do not

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post stuff just because you need

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validation from other people and that

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was the problem I had is very early on

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in my trading I didn't get like

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validation from my parents anybody that

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I and this is also why I say don't tell

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people that you [ __ ] trade because my

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parents kind of told me not to do it my

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parents were like you shouldn't be doing

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this my friends were like what the [ __ ]

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are you doing so anything that was

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outside was completely negative and when

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I went into the market and I was losing

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it felt [ __ ] terrible because I knew

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that I was losing when everybody else

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told me that this was going to happen

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and it just pissed me the [ __ ] off so I

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cared more about getting that validation

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from somewhere else than actually doing

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the work to be profitable and it took me

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probably a year for me to sit down and

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realize that that was an actual problem

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for me to like take full accountability

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P push my ego to the side and say why do

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I care more about this than actually

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making the decisions to do so right and

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that's the thing about a Trader and

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trading in general is this is one of the

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only jobs where it is literally just you

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you have to have an insane level of self

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accountability

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self-recognition that you know your

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emotions that you are having you know

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the problems you were having and being

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able to sit down with with yourself and

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say you know what I can't be doing this

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anymore I can't be making this mistake

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and that takes a lot of time for you to

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get to that point of mental maturity as

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a Trader as an individual for you to

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recognize that and actually change it is

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the biggest part because a lot a lot of

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people are living a false reality again

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like I said people are people care more

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about being perceived than actually

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being profitable and it took me a long

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time for me to realize I was doing that

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and when I did it made me improve as a

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Trader because I was actually taking the

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problems that I was having serious L and

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some of those problems that I was having

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at the time was number one before I

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started I started trading ICT because I

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started trading

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ICT two I started trading ICT around two

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and a half years two years um after that

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after I started trading and during that

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early time period like my first year

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year two years um I was more trading

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like supply and demand just [ __ ]

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Concepts that just did not work um but

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the experience was good because I I was

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able to lose money which is honestly a

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good experience to have as a Trader you

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you need to learn how to lose money you

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need to become desensitized to it that's

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just a part of trading

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um and that's also a part of scaling as

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a Trader cuz recently I was talking to

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my community and I also did a post on on

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Twitter about it

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but how I basically go about scaling and

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how I was able to get to that you know

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Mark where it's like Justin how did you

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go from just unprofitable unprofitable

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to $300,000 a year like how is that even

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possible and it has to do with how I was

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able to scale number one is being

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completely unattached to money

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whatsoever the switch of what made me

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unprofitable to profitable the biggest

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thing where it's like Justin asked me

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like what what was your aha moment that

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that made you profitable the biggest

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thing I could say and number one it

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wasn't one specific thing it was a lot

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of things you know working together um

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but it was not a strategy it was not an

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idea it was simply a mental shift and

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that mental

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shift is most of you care more about the

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idea of making money than actually

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making that

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money and actually making that money

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comes from building good habits and

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actually trading well so when you go

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into the market focusing on making money

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all of what happens is completely out of

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the window all of the actual process

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itself is out of the window because

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you're not focusing on the process it's

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just like you go into the gym with the

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mindset of I need to get a six-pack but

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you're not actually doing the workouts

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to get a sixpack that is basically the

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problem is you're going into the market

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with the mindset of I need to take a

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trade and it's going to make me

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money and in reality that mindset you

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need to have is you need to not give a

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[ __ ] about money losing it making it

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whatever you have you need absolutely no

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attachment to it whatsoever because

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money has really nothing to do with

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trading whatsoever money has literally

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nothing to do with trading trading is

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about applying a system with risk with

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habits that are going to control

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yourself over time and have a

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longevity structural Foundation that can

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protect you over time it is not about

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money it has nothing to do with money it

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has you it has everything to do with you

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being a decision maker and and applying

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risk to those decisions because what

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happens is is you become more focused on

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the outcome than the actual process

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itself and when you're not focused on

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the process itself how the [ __ ] can you

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get expect to get to the outcome you're

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mental masturbating on your [ __ ] self

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thinking about oh my God how much money

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I'm going to make without actually doing

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the things you need to be doing to get

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to that point it's it's it's ridiculous

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and it's not ridiculous because I mean

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it's ridiculous but I [ __ ] was doing

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the same thing too at that at that point

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in time in my trading

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so keep that in mind do not be focused

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on making money because the biggest part

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about scaling and if you do want to make

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money if you really want to make

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$100,000

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100,000 500 a million when you get to

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six figures to seven figures you need to

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have a complete disconnect to money

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because when you start working with that

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level of size is when your emotions can

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go out of control if you aren't in when

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you're not control of yourself right and

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a part of getting to that point in

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scaling is getting to the point where

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you're comfortable with whatever that

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size in and you're comfortable with

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losing that money and it becomes a lot

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easier when you're comfortable with

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losing that money when you've already

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been consistently building the habits to

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be disconnected from it in the first

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place so one thing about scaling that I

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was talking about on Twitter earlier too

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is the way that I go about it is I have

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a mental trash bin in my head I pick a

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number and then again if you want to do

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big boy numbers in trading this is how

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you have to do it pick a number in your

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head that you are comfortable with

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[ __ ] Lighting on fire in

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cash say that's 20 grand 10 grand again

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this is if you want to scale if you want

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to get to like big boy numbers you have

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to be so disconnected meaning whatever

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that money you are risking in the first

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place when you up your size is already

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[ __ ] gone lit that [ __ ] on fire if I

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was to tell you dude $20,000 just got

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stripped from your account you have to

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be okay with being like all right I can

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make it back

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whatever that is the level of Disconnect

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you have to have so when I go about

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scaling I'll basically say Okay I want

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to be trading 8 to 10 contracts right

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that I want that to be my full sizeer

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whatever it is and I'm going to say okay

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I'm I want to be you know getting

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comfortable with that size for at least

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about a month to two months so I have to

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say okay if I was to have a bad month or

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a bad two months what would that normal

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loss look like so do the calculations

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look at the trades that you normally

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would take with whatever the normal size

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that you have is then put on the new

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size and test okay how how much would I

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be losing on this actual setup and then

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what you're going to do is you're going

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to calculate the risk calculate the

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difference and say okay if I was to

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really have bad losing days and a bad

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month and a bad two months how much

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money am I losing that is in my track

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cash bin so for me I'm saying okay 50k

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I'm I'm good with 50k in my not not a

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whole account but 50k worth that I'm

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willing to lose in that scale period

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because if I'm scaling I need a period

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of like one month where I need to get

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comfortable with trading that and I'm

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willing to put 5 50k on you know and and

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and that's gone because basically the

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benefit of doing that is what you're

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doing is when you go into sizing up and

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you actually get to that point where you

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where you press the button and you see

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your p&l and you're looking at oh [ __ ]

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normally my loss is like $2,000 and now

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it's [ __ ] $6,000 $8,000 right now you

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have to get to a point where it's like

play11:09

okay I need to realize what this is and

play11:12

number one you shouldn't really be

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jumping that much size anyway um you

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should be upping like one contract at a

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time two contracts right so the size

play11:18

difference shouldn't be that big but you

play11:19

want to get comfortable with it and this

play11:20

is honestly more talking about scaling

play11:22

to bigger numbers not not like micros

play11:25

and stuff this is honestly more

play11:26

psychology for scaling bigger numbers

play11:28

but

play11:29

get to a point where you're able to

play11:31

comfortable it but you need a mental

play11:32

trash bin of cash where you understand

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that you are totally fine with losing it

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because a big part of trading 90% 80% is

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psychology it is all mental it is being

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able to understand yourself as a Trader

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as a person and understanding how that

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is going to affect you in your actual

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trading when it comes to your system so

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when it comes to scaling I pick a number

play11:53

I'm okay with 50k losing and I go into

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the trade already accepted that all that

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money is lost so I go into the day right

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when I start and I up my size I'm going

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into it knowing that I could lose like

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50 trades in a row and I've already or

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not 50 but I'll say like 20 trades in a

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row and I've already accepted I've lost

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like 50k right so right when I click

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that button the new size does not mean

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anything to me because I've already made

play12:18

the mental switch before putting myself

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in the environment to do it where I'm

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adapted to it to the environment now

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right it is a mental game you tweak how

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you think about whatever the environment

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you're putting yourself into so by the

play12:32

time you get there it is not as much as

play12:34

a surprise as it would be if I was to

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just go in Click the [ __ ] button and

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say all right I just upped my size by

play12:40

four four contracts boom and then I'm

play12:42

put in this situation I'm like oh my

play12:44

[ __ ] God I'm down like $3,000 right

play12:46

now I'm not used to this and then you

play12:48

make a rational decisions you say okay

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I'm going to take it off here I can't

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you don't you you don't trust your stop

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loss you don't trust your price Target

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and then again you end up building bad

play12:56

habits because you're more focused on

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making money more focused on losing

play13:00

money than actually doing what you need

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to be doing right you break your rules

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because you're afraid to lose money or

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you're up on it and you don't you can't

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hold it too much right that's another

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side of it too is you're in more

play13:09

contracts so when we end up getting

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maybe halfway to your price Target

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you're already up what your normally

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would be up on a [ __ ] regular trade

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and you end up taking it early because

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you don't trust the actual process right

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you're afraid to give that money back

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instead of trusting the actual chart

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itself because you're more focused on

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the money than the actual chart and

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again that is that is literally the

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number one reason why I always say the

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biggest advice I will always say in

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pretty much every one of my videos and

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every single day I I say this to my

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students the biggest advice that I can

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always say in trading and the always

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thing that you should be repeating to

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yourself every single day is I need to

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be focused on building good habits not

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making money be focused on building good

play13:48

habits do not be focused on making

play13:50

money and one thing I want you also to

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think about and what people don't

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realize why why not why the thought of

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making money is the cause of all your

play14:02

problems listen I'm must I'm going to

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explain this every problem that you have

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in trading every single one always

play14:09

reverts back if you were going going to

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go in a chain and say okay this caused

play14:13

me to do this this caused me to do this

play14:14

and then I ended up losing this money

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whatever it is right you're going to go

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back to the source of whatever that idea

play14:19

is it comes back to you being in the

play14:21

headp space and the mindset of making

play14:23

money that is the problem every single

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problem that you have whether it be oh I

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over traded okay why did you overtrade

play14:31

let's say maybe you were down on the

play14:32

morning and you were trying to make that

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money back okay boom making money

play14:34

problem Oh my problem was I was fomo you

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know I I saw the trade go out and I had

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the fear of missing out okay you have a

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fear of not making that [ __ ] money so

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you jumped in way too late no you're

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you're focused on making money every

play14:45

problem that you have is going to revert

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back to that one mindset so until you

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realize that you need to completely flip

play14:52

that [ __ ] switch and completely move

play14:54

your mind in a different environment and

play14:55

can be completely disconnected from

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whatever you're trading you're not going

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to get to a point of consistency because

play15:01

that always little background itch that

play15:03

you're going to have when you're trading

play15:05

size and you're trading your capital and

play15:07

you're not comfortable with it and

play15:08

you're not focused on good habits and

play15:10

actually the setup itself you're always

play15:12

going to make it rational decisions and

play15:14

that's just the reality of it you have

play15:16

to get into a point where you're

play15:18

comfortable with whatever you're

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losing and you're able to just continue

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to do it consistently and when it comes

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to upping your size you have a mental

play15:25

trash bin that trash bin you're ready to

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light on [ __ ] fire

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and you go to it you get to [ __ ] work

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um another thing that I also would say

play15:37

in my

play15:39

journey was a big part as well is

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Journal Journal Jour Journal like your

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life [ __ ] depends on it like actually

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Journal like your life depends on it

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every single trade that you take you

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need to be asking yourself what am I

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doing right what am I doing wrong what

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do I need to fix because a lot of people

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too will come to me and they'll say

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Justin I'm at a break even stage right

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for all of the people that are watching

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this that are at a break even stage this

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is what you need to be doing how do I

play16:07

get out of the break even stage Justin

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I'm going to tell you right now the way

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to get out of the break even stage is

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journaling because Break Even is a

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fantastic point to be because all it

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takes is one little change in your

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trading for that that p&l to just

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continue to go straight up right you

play16:24

just need one little tweak and a lot of

play16:25

the times what I find with a lot of

play16:28

students that were that that are at

play16:29

break even is most of the common problem

play16:31

with people that are Break Even is the

play16:33

only thing holding them back from from

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making money is they just take

play16:36

unnecessary small losses they'll have

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like great win great win and then

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they'll take like three shitty trades

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with like L like and then it'll just

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chip away at that profit and they just

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can't control it and that's a problem

play16:48

that you only get to see from journaling

play16:51

because when without you actually taking

play16:53

the time to acknowledge saying okay this

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is this is the problem right I need to

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actually assess

play16:59

saying hey this is the problem I know

play17:01

this from journaling every single

play17:03

[ __ ] day right without you doing that

play17:05

you're never going to know your own

play17:07

personal problems again trading is

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[ __ ] you versus you there is no one

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else that is going to make the decisions

play17:13

for you there is no one else that's

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going to tell you what your problem is

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unless you go to a mentor unless you

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come to me and you say hey Justin let's

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look at this journal and I'm going to

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say okay we're let's go through this

play17:22

together let's figure out what the

play17:23

problem is and we can figure that out

play17:26

but unless you have a mentor you need to

play17:28

[ __ ] ask ask yourself these questions

play17:29

you need to do the work because it won't

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do it for you and then you make the same

play17:33

mistakes over and over again saying

play17:34

Justin why the what am I doing wrong

play17:37

what am I doing wrong it's cuz you you

play17:38

aren't taking the actual [ __ ]

play17:41

decision to change the problem most of

play17:43

you know what the problem is this is

play17:45

this is this is the big this is the

play17:47

overall bigger problem most of you know

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what the problem is you just don't fix

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it you just don't fix it I'm sorry to

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say you just don't fix it you want to

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know why you don't fix it because you're

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[ __ ] focused on making money that is

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why you don't fix it because you are

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focused on making money every single day

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that you come into the market you're

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like oh just check my Twitter you know

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we're bumping [ __ ] house music we're

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I'm looking at all this [ __ ] I'm ready

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to get money I'm ready to [ __ ] do all

play18:14

this [ __ ] brother what are you hyping

play18:15

yourself up for you are in the negative

play18:18

right now what's going on here and then

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you go in with the mindset of [ __ ]

play18:23

let me I'm I'm so excited to send this

play18:25

screenshot of my p&l to my best friend

play18:28

and let them know I'm making all this

play18:30

money and then you go in taking a bunch

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of [ __ ] setups because you went in the

play18:34

end of the day [ __ ] expecting all of

play18:36

these great

play18:37

things what the [ __ ] you set yourself up

play18:40

for failure and most of you guys don't

play18:42

realize you're doing this

play18:45

um so keep that in

play18:48

mind

play18:50

anyway recognize your [ __ ] faults is

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what I'm saying recognize that you are

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not perfect I am not perfect but guess

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what we can damn near be pretty [ __ ]

play19:02

perfect sometimes all right with trading

play19:04

you just got to be put in the [ __ ]

play19:05

work to do it if you want to be a big

play19:07

boy if you want to make money that is

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what you must do if you don't that's

play19:12

fine that's fine you don't have to get

play19:15

to that point but if you want to be any

play19:16

sort of successful or any sort of

play19:18

consistency with trading you need to get

play19:21

to that point of mental Mastery and you

play19:23

need to be focused on Switching your

play19:25

mindset to building good habits and

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getting satisfaction from building good

play19:29

habits that is the number one thing is

play19:32

you might say hey Justin I'm focused on

play19:33

building good habits no no no it needs

play19:36

to be your your environment it needs to

play19:39

be you need to completely reprogram

play19:42

yourself you need

play19:44

satisfaction from building good habits

play19:46

that is what you need when I wake up now

play19:49

and when I where I'm at as a Trader

play19:51

after after so long and after getting to

play19:53

this point I could give less of a [ __ ]

play19:56

how much I make how much I lose because

play19:59

guess what over time I have the rules

play20:02

the habits the the strategy in place to

play20:05

protect myself and make me money in the

play20:07

long run and guess what you want to know

play20:10

how I got to that point because I

play20:12

programmed myself to get satisfaction

play20:14

out of doing what I need to be doing if

play20:16

I make money but I broke all of my rules

play20:19

I'm going to say Justin this money is

play20:20

not [ __ ] yours why are you happy that

play20:22

you made money if I lost money and I did

play20:25

everything I was supposed to do traded a

play20:27

great setup great risk everything I was

play20:29

looking for A+ setup I'm going to say

play20:30

Justin that was a [ __ ] fantastic loss

play20:32

let's go because I did everything I

play20:34

needed to do that is what got me success

play20:37

that is how I was able to be successful

play20:39

because I programmed my mind to get

play20:41

satisfaction from building good habits

play20:43

not making money and when you're focused

play20:45

on not making money you are actually

play20:47

focused on the [ __ ] process and not

play20:49

the outcome guess what what happens when

play20:51

you're focused on the process you get

play20:53

the outcome oh my God isn't that [ __ ]

play20:56

Wild

play20:58

and this goes with every single thing in

play21:00

life if you are focused on finding love

play21:03

guess what you're not going to find love

play21:05

you're going to find love when you're

play21:05

being focused on yourself and it's going

play21:07

to happen when you when you're focused

play21:08

on getting a [ __ ] six-pack and you're

play21:10

just sitting there you know [ __ ] uh

play21:12

uh whatever the [ __ ] you're doing and

play21:14

you're not actually focused on every

play21:16

single workout crunching the [ __ ]

play21:18

muscle pushing it to the test the actual

play21:21

process okay you're not going to see the

play21:24

results same thing with trading so

play21:27

please I know you know what the problem

play21:29

is and if you don't that's fine but

play21:32

guess what you want to know how you're

play21:33

going to know how to figure out what

play21:34

that problem is by journaling so just go

play21:37

Journal please go journal and another

play21:39

thing as well is making money does not

play21:42

mean that you were doing something right

play21:44

and losing money does not mean that you

play21:45

are doing something wrong so many people

play21:48

especially newer Traders will come into

play21:49

the market they'll make money and be

play21:51

like oh let's go just made some [ __ ]

play21:54

Moola no brother you did not make MOA

play21:57

because guess what the Market's going to

play21:58

take that right

play22:00

back because you have no habits in place

play22:03

that are going to protect it from from

play22:04

it from you losing all of that money

play22:06

losing money does not mean you're doing

play22:07

something wrong making money does not

play22:09

mean you're doing something right

play22:10

recognize are the habits and the

play22:12

decisions that you are making right are

play22:15

you using your proper size guess what if

play22:18

you over leverage and you end up making

play22:21

money and you come to me and say Justin

play22:22

look how much [ __ ] money I made and

play22:24

then you're going to say oh you know I

play22:25

did over leverage though I'm going to

play22:26

say you're that money is not yours what

play22:28

what are you happy about what are you

play22:31

happy about think about it that money is

play22:34

not yours you want to know why it's not

play22:35

yours because you don't have the habits

play22:37

in place to keep it trading is not about

play22:40

making money it's about keeping that

play22:42

money

play22:43

okay when you don't have the habits in

play22:45

place to keep that money it's not yours

play22:48

and then you start trading like it is

play22:49

you like it is yours you ever find that

play22:52

you get on a win streak for like a week

play22:53

two weeks 3 weeks and then you blow up

play22:55

in like [ __ ] 3 days because most of

play22:58

the time that money you're making you're

play23:01

not making it the correct way you're

play23:04

getting either lucky or you've been

play23:06

building all the habits that aren't

play23:08

protecting you from when that time does

play23:09

arise CU guess what the market is not

play23:11

going to be just super [ __ ] click

play23:12

bunny easy every goddamn day it's not

play23:15

there's going to be hard days there's

play23:17

going to be hard conditions you're not

play23:18

going to be able to read the market and

play23:20

guess what the habits in the habits that

play23:22

you should be building every single day

play23:23

are in place to protect yourself from

play23:26

those inevitable days that will happen

play23:28

and when it comes to that situation you

play23:30

have the habits in place to know when

play23:32

you need to step away hey I can

play23:34

recognize this is low conditions I'm

play23:36

going to lower my size today and I'm

play23:38

going to [ __ ] follow it okay and I'm

play23:40

not going to make dumb decisions I know

play23:42

guess what most of the people that go to

play23:44

a day like that are focused on guess

play23:46

what if it has the opportunity to make

play23:48

me money I'm going to take it that's

play23:50

what most of you guys are thinking like

play23:51

instead of being guess what you're paid

play23:53

for your decisions brother you're paid

play23:55

for your decisions not your time you

play23:59

should be sitting in front of the market

play24:00

for 5 hours straight and not take a

play24:01

trade if you know what you're looking

play24:02

for and you can recognize the conditions

play24:05

but most of you have those three blowup

play24:06

days because you don't have the habits

play24:08

in place to know when to step away when

play24:10

to recognize you're wrong when to admit

play24:12

that your bias is wrong whatever your

play24:14

ego is again you you don't have to be

play24:16

right to make money okay completely you

play24:19

are just an observer you're not a person

play24:21

okay you as a Trader are not a person

play24:24

you are an

play24:25

observer and a risk taker that is it

play24:29

you have no connection to this

play24:31

whatsoever you are just there pressing

play24:33

[ __ ] monkey

play24:35

buttons use the knowledge you

play24:38

know and have no connection to it

play24:40

whatsoever sorry sorry for the wind um

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I'm in Sardinia right now I wanted I

play24:45

really wanted to record this video but I

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knew it was probably going to be [ __ ]

play24:48

windy so I'm sorry um but I'm probably

play24:51

going to end the video here even though

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I want to keep talking but it is getting

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windy so I plan on doing another video

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like this if you enjoy these kind of

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just more real one-on-one talks let me

play25:01

know and uh I'll plan to do more of them

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I really enjoy this honestly just like

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[ __ ] just saying whatever whatever comes

play25:07

to mind it's kind of uh more real I like

play25:10

it um let me know if you guys like it

play25:13

comment subscribe whatever and uh I'll

play25:15

see you guys in the next one peace

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Related Tags
Trading InsightsMental GameProfitabilityRisk ManagementHabit BuildingMarket PsychologyJournalingEgo in TradingPerformance ScalingSelf Accountability