Expand Your Comfort Zone: Day 8 - Building Enthusiasm.

Build enthusiasm by shedding victim mentality, through simulation, and by having a PLAN. Need to catch up? Check out Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4,Day 5, Day 6, and Day 7

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Alright... we have established that in order to get through feelings of victim mentality through self-compassion, you must allow yourself to mourn those crazy thoughts that drown your true birthright of success.

Your income barriers, your lack of planning, your lack of imagination, your lack of enthusiasm about your future, and whatever else could be causing you to be "less than" what you really want to be in life, it's your fault. AND YOUR DECISION!

The steps you skip will trip you up in the end and the hardest steps to take include the ones that require you to self destruct. If you have to change, you have to destroy.

In order for you to build enthusiasm about what you do in life, nothing can compare to what you have your heart and mind set on and NOTHING can distract or waiver you from WHAT YOU SAID YOU WOULD DO!

Not a person, not a conflicting thought, not a perceived lack of resources, and definitely not a lack of planning.

The WHY has to make so much sense and be so set in stone that if you decide AGAINST your why, you MUST know that destruction is soon to come right after.

How is that?

Here is how I see it: once you make a declaration strong enough to get the spiritual forces to work in your favor, you must also understand that the things that come your way that does not guide you to what you ORIGINALLY asked for, are to be considered WRONG TURNS. Just like in using a GPS.

"OH BUT WHAT IF I DECIDED TO CHANGE MY MIND?"

It doesn't make a difference. To decide is to declare a destination and to change your mind is to change your direction. Everything in association with the original idea may have to be completely destroyed in order for you to receive what comes with your NEW decision.

So don't be surprised if everything you have built is destroyed just based on the decision to change your mind.

This is why the point of making a plan is KEY to building enthusiasm about your life path.

WHY did you decide to trade? Is that why big enough to create scenarios to get you those income goals you have in your mind? If not, you will need to add DEPTH to your plan.

You could have a plan to make enough money in trading so that you can take care of your family and not have to work. Ok... well if all it takes for you to do that is $2500 a month, then that's probably what you will receive.

You get what is in alignment with what you DECIDE!

Explore the things that bring you ENTHUSIASM about life in general. If having money to change your ENTIRE community makes you enthusiastic, add that to your plan. If traveling in luxury makes you enthusiastic about life, add that to your plan.

The goal is to get soooo far away from being the victim, that we create a lifestyle that makes our old self BARELY RECOGNIZABLE, as Lisa Nichols would say.

The best way to build enthusiasm is to VISUALIZE what it is that you want in your life.

Remember the tips that I gave you on day 6 and day 4 on becoming calm and mindful? Use those tips to bring you to a place of peace.

Then, pretend you already have the life you want because technically you do. You are in the circle of individuals who have the lifestyle you probably want, so technically, its as if you JUST walked in the door of your FAVORITE activity.

When you arrive at something you love to do, you aren't instantly ready to have the full experience, are you? No. You want to find a way to make it last for a while.

Don't rush to the end of your visualization. Experience the feeling of JUST GETTING THERE! That's the enthusiasm that you are looking for. The excitement of JUST getting to the destination of your ultimate plan.

But think about how you drive. The "getting there" is the MIDDLE of the travel. The drive there can go smoothly or you can have a tough time getting there which ultimately destroys the experience you have when you get to your destination.

So you have to ultimately create in your plan how your travel to your destination will go. When I travel long distances, I have a whole playlist. Music finna be POPPIN... SNACKS... the ride there will be JOYFUL because I know that when I get to where I am going, I want to arrive in good spirits.

So, arrive where you want to be in good spirits by showing enthusiasm now!

What makes you enthusiastic? Have you finalized your WHY and do you think that you might need to expand your plan?

Expand Your Comfort Zone: Day 7 - Building Grit.

Build grit by defining what grit means, reading stories of grit, and through finding passion. Check out Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, and Day 6.

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This will seem totally unrelated but what's your favorite movie?

If you don't already know why I'm asking that, I will let you know in a moment but think about your favorite movie.

My favorite USED TO BE Waiting to Exhale but is currently the entire Harry Potter collection. I could literally sit all day and watch a full marathon. I know this because I have done this. All I need is enough food to last for the day, a blanket, my phone, and no commercials.

Today we talk about Building grit and the first point is to define what grit means. Just google it real quick. Here let me make it easy for you: Click to see several definitions of grit, defined by several people who we really don't know on google :)

Simply put, grit means the ability to persevere with passion towards a long term goal.

This brings me to point 2 of building grit and that's reading stories of grit.

In the 2-week intensive course, Chris has us read several books, one being Trading in the Zone. This book gives you a true breakdown of how to obtain grit in the market.

But let's just be honest, you either have grit or you don't.

Grit is something that you have instilled in you from early on in your life. Yes, you are able to build it, however, in the process of becoming gritty [would that be the right colloquialism? sounds dirty lol] you will have several "breakthroughs" you have to go through in order to truly become it.

Let's go back to your favorite movie. If you have ever seen Harry Potter, you realize that Harry is considered "the chosen one". Throughout the entire movie series, Harry had to deal with quite a bit of up and downs, just because of his "chosen one" status. He displayed grit throughout the entire movie.

If you look at the movie you chose, are there areas in the movie that display grit?

If so, you are someone who has it in you already, and its time to focus on applying it to your trading career.

If not, it's probably not in you naturally because, according to multiple psychology tests, you usually relate, in some way, to the main character of your favorite movie.

Now, am I saying I'm the chosen one?

I didn't create the tests lol but I will say this about me: I always receive a beautiful amount of favor and people tend to dislike me for it. But we won't even go into detail, yall. I have stories for DAYSSSSS. Some hater probably rolling their eyes right now IF they are reading this lol but I digress.

Now if your movie doesn't directly display grit, That's ok... watch "The Big Short". Chris made us watch this in the 2-week intensive class.

There are several main characters but the MAIN main is the character named Michael Burry. He had a passion for reading. That was his secret weapon. His ability to persevere through a long-term goal came from the knowledge he gained from his passion for reading.

He was called crazy. He was "taken advantage of". He was verbally abused and his clients wanted to separate themselves from him. Yet, none of that made him go against what he KNEW would happen: the worst housing crisis of our time in 2007-2008.

After learning a bit about the market, this movie MIGHT become your favorite because you end up having a desire to find the next major crisis. Why?

Well, because you are in a position to win no matter what. If you use GRIT to take advantage of the market and PAY YOURSELF AS THE MARKET MAKES MONEY AVAILABLE TO YOU [traders creed], you do exactly that.

Now to the last point of building grit and that's finding passion. What passion do you have that can ultimately be used in this skill? Even painting could be used to create winning scenarios in this skill.

Break down your passion to its most basic fundamentals and you will see how you can relate it to trading in the market.

So I'm curious, what's your favorite movie? And don't try to change it at the last minute now that you know why I asked lol

Expand Your Comfort Zone: Day 4 - Building Mindfulness

Build mindfulness by trying the candle/T&S exercise, engaging in the 5 senses, and completing a body scan meditation. Need to catch up? Check out Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.

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You ever have a difficult time doing the same thing you always do? And instead of remaining in the present moment, you do all you can to take your mind off that moment?

Let me be the first to admit that today I am distracted! So its actually great that I am talking about being mindful today lol

When you learn how to trade, you realize that you are normally taught how to predict what will happen in the future based on what's already happened in the past.

The time and sales monitor is where you see the present moment transactions. If you are not aware of what the time and sales monitor is, Join the Gold Membership so that you can see each transaction that structures the candles.

Since today is more about mindfulness exercises to stay in the present moment than literary content, let me just describe the exercises so you can try them out.

What does Chris always say:

The market is only moving in 2 directions: up and down.

The candle/T&S (time and sales) exercise:

When you begin to learn how the time and sales works, you eventually find yourself staring at it for odd amounts of time. Instead of just looking at it, say out loud what it's doing. For instance, if you are just looking at the numbers, say out loud if the numbers are going up or down. If you are looking at the colors, say out loud what action the color represents on the Super DOM.

If you have no idea what that means, go check out a chart and say out loud what the candle is doing. Is it going up or down? You will eventually find yourself only paying attention to what is going on in that present moment and not trying to predict the future of what will happen.

Engaging in the 5 senses exercise

This one is pretty common but it works. What 5 things can you see? Try to find things that you wouldn't normally look at. Maybe the rim of your smoke alarm or the slit in the screw on the electrical outlet.

What 4 things can you feel right now? Feel for the odd things. Yes, you have on clothes (or do you?) but how heavy do they feel? Or how do your eyelashes feel right now? Mine feel a little out of order for some odd reason lol [adjusts lashes]

What can you hear? Listen hard for inflections in sounds that you never really paid attention to. For example, if your computer fan starts, does it remain consistent in sound, or does the sound change?

Now list 2 things you can smell? Take a deep breath through your nose. Do you smell that?

Finally, what do you taste? Run your tongue across that tartar on your teeth lol

Anyway, you get the point of the exercise. Use this as a way to decrease your anxiety and to bring you back to the present moment when you feel like you need to be grounded.

Complete a body scan meditation

How often do you listen and pay full attention to your body?

Find a comfortable spot and lay flat on your back to carry out a body scan.

You can’t allow your arms to hang loosely by your side, with your palms up, and your feet just slightly apart. Lie still and allow yourself to sink into the awareness of your body.

You will start by paying attention to the rhythm of your breath. You don’t need to alter your breathing, just notice it. Now, pay attention to how your clothing feels against your skin, the surface that is touching your body, the environment that you’re in, and the temperature of the room.

Allow your awareness to shift to any area of your body that feels particularly light, heavy, or tingly. Noticed the parts of your body feeling nothing or feeling everything.

Typically, a body scan begins at the tips of your toes and moves to the top of your head. You can focus on each area, in turn, paying attention to how it feels. Once you’ve done this you can slowly bring your focus back to the room, opening your eyes, and moving to a sitting position.

That's it for today. Are you going to try all of them? If not, which one do you think will serve you best in staying in the present moment?