Willingness, Responsibility and Ownership

Willingness
One of the key qualities you will find behind all successful people (across all fields of work and craft) is a ‘willingness‘.  A willingness to take full responsibility for their efforts, actions and results.  A willingness to take ownership of every step along the way from training, to the process, to daily actions and the results that come from them.
Remember, you are asking to be something only at best 1 in 4 will be profitable at, and from them, only 1 in 3 will make serious money.  To be in this small percentage of traders, you are going to have to work;
-work on being disciplined
-work on following your risk management to the tee
-understand how your mind helps and hurts your trading
-follow your trading plan
-break through personal obstacles
-go against your biology and emotions
-orient your life towards supporting your success instead of hampering it

To do this, you need willingness, a willingness to go forth after defeat, a willingness to break old habits, to work harder then you are now.  You also need to take responsibility for your trading process.  You need to take responsibility for your daily actions. And you need to take responsibility for your results.  In essence, you need to take ownership of the entire process at all stages, at all turning points, with each decision, and with each result (success or failure).
Responsibility
Many developing traders are willing to take responsibility for their winners, few are willing to take responsibility for the losers. Somehow when they win, there is no talk of the broker or market-maker, the market behaving strangely, the system, their risk management or mind affecting their trading.
However, during a loss, all of sudden these bugaboos appear at the frontline of their thinking. When things do not go your way, there is a tendency to look at someone other than yourself, the one who pushed the buttons.  Having a gut level responsibility makes no distinctions between winners and losers.  They are the same.  They all came from the common denominator in the situation – you!
Do you challenge yourself to learn from your mistakes or immediately look for excuses?  When you succeed, do you build up your ego or do you build on what you did right to accomplish more?
Trading is holding a mirror to oneself, seeing what needs work, and working on it, while seeing what is working and augmenting it. A failure to look in the mirror is to attach yourself to an invisible chain which binds you to your weakest skill.  And it is your weakest skill in trading which sets the height of your success and income.   Luckily, skill is a drill that can be easily molded to build the pillars of your success.
How Can We Take More Responsibility?
First, have a goal.  Have a goal that is clearly defined and a clear path from here to there.  If these are vague, your efforts will be uncoordinated to a cloudy future.  But if they are defined, we can make concrete steps to get there.  Once we have the steps, we can take massive action to getting there starting with the next step in front of us.  But along this entire journey, we have to take personal responsibility for getting from here to there.
When we fail to take personal responsibility for our results, we create holes in the tapestry of our work and trading process. Not taking responsibility cuts us off from our natural intelligence.
Ask yourself, what are the aspects of trading you most neglect, you enjoy the least, you pay the least attention to?  These are likely your weakest aspects of your trading and consequently the ones that need to be developed the most.  Take a long think about it, then make a list of them.  Meditate on this list as to how it has affected your trading in the past, and what you are going to do to develop this in the future. Remember, it is your weakest skill in trading which sets the height of your success and income.

If you really care about your work, you are willing to face not only the reality you have now, but whatever comes up through your efforts (success and failures).  And you will do what it takes to get the results which manifest in you reaching your goals. This comes from willingness and responsibility to make every action count and help you build your pyramid to success.  The base is the largest, and all higher levels come from the level of work and success you have built before.  It is critical to spend time becoming clear on what actions you take which truly bring you toward you goal, not just when you are in front of the charts, but when you are away from them.  If you are taking on this responsibility fully, it is not a burden, but an inner expression to own the outcome and development towards your goals.
Obstacles to Responsibility and Success
The only thing holding you back from success are your long-established habits, the ones you are unaware of, the unconscious patterns which manifest as the bugaboos to your success.  It could be being disciplined, being diligent, your thoughts around money, success and being wealthy.  It could be you have not developed the mindset of abundance.  It could be away from your trading desk or in front of it. Regardless, it is in you and your mind.  You are the common denominator.  These are the obstacles to taking full responsibility.  These are the obstacles to your success.

Once we start to take responsibility for our training, process, path and actions, we will naturally discover that which is holding us back.  We will be watching every turn of the experience and seeing with a neutral mind what was part of our success or failure in those moments.  More than likely, you will have to work harder to reach your goals and that comes with working harder on your weaknesses, on discovering your long-established habits, on what steps will get you from here to there.  You will face problems and challenges, some that may have counter-intuitive solutions.  How you face these challenges will determine what obstacles you overcome.
Stepping Into Responsibility and Ownership
The moment we step into being fully responsible, we crystallize an energy which will feed you in your process.  You will engage your work more completely then ever.  You will take charge of every aspect of your training, trading and process.  This opens your mind and field of vision to what is going on.  This leads you to training and working everyday which leads to the decisions which build you as a trader.  This comes from stepping into responsibility and this leads to ownership of the process.
This ownership is the ship which will take you to the next port of call.  It is the fruit which comes from all the hard work you have put into the process.  It is the second level where challenges and obstacles are overcome, where we fight against our long-established habits and build the mentality of success.  It is being an architect of your trading process, where clear results and progress build confidence and take your trading to the next level.  It is going into the places that scare you, that you enjoy the least, of working with discomfort without being affected by it.  It is grounded, and comes from the mind and the heart working as one.  It is this ownership which will be the vehicle for your growth and the first goal you should be setting your eyes on, not a particular balance in your account.
Methods and Tactics to Build Willingness, Responsibility and Ownership
1) Ask yourself what reasons have you habitually used to take your process, training and trading to the next level?  Ask yourself what thoughts, feelings or emotions underlie these experiences and how you can relate to them differently.
2) Ask yourself what skill-sets are your weakest and require the most attention? Is it;
-Risk Management
-Trading Psychology
-Discipline
-Diligence
-Following a Trading Plan
Write them down on a list and ask yourself what you can do to work on these.  Then take action every day and week to work on these so they become pillars to your success instead of hindering it.
3) After quieting and relaxing your mind, think about an aspect of your trading which you are willing to take more responsibility for.  You can either start with your least favorite aspect or the one that affects you the most (often they are likely one and the same).  It will definitely be something which challenges you on an inner level.  Then picture yourself taking action to remedy this habit.  Do this until you understand all that you’d need to do to develop this skill, and how you will go about working on this.  Set a timeline for becoming competent in this area and hold yourself to it.  Review your progress periodically so you can adjust along the way.  Do this until you have come to the time allotted for it and assess your progress.
4) This last one is an exploration.  After relaxing your mind, think of some business or athlete or high level performer.  This should be someone which naturally comes to mind.  Imagine yourself as the owner of this business, as the athlete or high level performer.  Imagine that every decision you make sets your development, failure and success.  Imagine each step and success/failure and how it is a reflection of your inner vision, your willingness, your taking responsibility and becoming an owner of the process, effort and results.  As you bring these images to mind, what thoughts, emotions and feelings are evoked? What inside you gets provoked?
Note them all, particularly your negative reactions such as jealousy, resentment, fear, anger, frustration or worry.  This could be towards those individuals you think of what comes up when you think of yourself in this position.  Note what comes up as they will be beacons asking for your attention.  They will mark the path towards an inner understanding which liberates your actions and efforts.  They will be reflective of what long-established unconscious patterns are affecting your trading and ultimately, your success.
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