SHINY OBJECT SYNDROME

The Shiny Object Syndrome. What it is it? How does it apply to trading? Ironically, when you turn Shiny Object Syndrome into an acronym you get SOS, which is the universal call for help! When you have Shiny Object Syndrome aka SOS you are looking for the next best thing to HELP YOU get what you want. This syndrome is heavy amongst entrepreneurs but I go as far to say that everyone has experienced it some way or another. It is one of the most common problems for traders.

Traders are always looking for the next best system. Whether it be the next automated bot, the next strategy, the next promise of successful trading making millions! Traders are always looking for the next hottest thing to improve their trading, make them successful, turn their losers into winners, etc.

I’ll admit, I had this syndrome too. I was constantly changing my focus… jumping from one strategy to the next. Trying to find a way to make my winners bigger, my losers smaller, and increase my winning percentage. However, this did not work. What happened my account started going down and eventually I blew my account! When you change direction every time you see something that looks better, will only leave you confused and going around in circles, wasting valuable time, and ultimately leading to a blown account.

Anything worth doing is going to take time. Jumping around from one idea to the next doesn’t allow your original idea to have the time, the energy, and attention it needs to become successful. The grass is not greener on the other side…the object isn’t shinier.

People who have nice grass, do so, because they have nurtured it. They watered their grass, gave it fertilizer, did research on how to grow grass…basically, invested time and energy. The same goes for your trading system. The longer you spend looking for that perfect system, the more time you will waster enhancing your own.

Stop wasting time and energy looking for the perfect system out there. THERE IS NO PERFECT SYSTEM! If there was, governments would be buying it. There are 100s of strategies and systems out there. Successful traders have invested hours, days, years, into their strategies learning all the nuances to create it and then stuck with it, nurtured it, and improved it when they could. If you want to be successful find a strategy that fits your needs and style. Then invest time and energy into it… learn everything you can and grow with the strategy.

Once I learned this lesson and put focus on my strategy…the grass started getting greener…MUCH GREENER!

People have wasted years of searching only to find out that they just need to water their own grass!