The Next Time You Want To Compare Your Trading With Someone Else’s, Ask Your Self This Question…
Last
week I was speaking with a trader who stopped by the office last year
and who I hadn’t seen since. As we conversed, I realized by the nature of his
questions that he was trying intently to find out exactly how much money I or
the other traders in the office had made since our last encounter, but not
necessarily how. Why? It seemed to me the only answer was that he was
trying to draw some kind of judgment as to how good or bad his trading was
relative to mine or the other traders we knew. This got me thinking about how
mentally debilitating comparing oneself to others can be, if not done for the
right reason.
Drawing Comparisons: An Innate Tendency of the Mind
Our minds can’t help making
comparisons and distinctions. It is something we learn at a very young age, and
it is a key part of the learning process. We learn to distinguish and evaluate
alternatives, and in the process, we make value judgments about whether one
alternative is better or worse or the same as another.
Invariably, this characteristic
of the human mind —