Athletic Entitlement – Who’s Next?
The other day I was checking out some groceries at the Safeway down the street from my house….
And as I stood in line, I began thinking about a really important lesson.
You see, as I was putting groceries on the conveyor belt, I happened to glance up at the magazine rack right in front of me.
On one hand, I am always astounded that people actually buy that stuff. But right next to the National Enquirer and a stack of gossip columns, was a Sports Illustrated. Now that got my attention.
It got my attention because of the full sized picture of a talented sports star who is in the middle of a legal scandal.
The look on his face was the look of shame and regret.
Beneath the picture, the headline described his recent legal troubles as the,
“… the ultimate expression of athletic entitlement…”
I was in too much of a hurry bagging my groceries to actually read the article (and to be honest, I didn’t have any real desire to read about the details), but the phrase “athletic entitlement” stuck with me as I pushed my cart of groceries to my truck.
On the drive home, I began to think about how much superstar athletes, politicians, and over paid CEO’s try to get away with because they are deluded by a completely unjustified sense of entitlement.
In other words, the “athletic entitlement” the Sports Illustrated article proclaimed as the source of this star’s fall from grace, could be as easily renamed…
“CEO Entitlement”…
or “Politician Entitlement”…
or even, dare I say “Trader Entitlement”.
Yes, lots of traders feel this sense of entitlement too. But for traders it looks a little different. It comes in the form of a little word called GREED.
I talk to tons of traders that taste success, and then over a period of time, start to get greedy. They start placing trades that are against their rules. They put more at risk than they should. Before they know it, they are staring at a big loss.
Now, everyone is going to experience some loss at times. It just comes with the territory. Sometimes we are just flat out wrong in our analysis. Or maybe we were dead right, but the market “decides” to move it the opposite direction. Oh well.
But losses from GREED are usually more painful. Fortunately, we can protect ourselves from out of control “greed glands”.
It is a simple three step process.
The first step is to believe that we can control our emotions. We do not HAVE to be ruled by them. We just have to learn how.
The second thing is to prepare in advance, for when the GREED will set in. When a big fat juicy premium for a bad trade is calling our name, it is important to know what to do. Thinking that it is possible to stay objective in the moment is dangerous.
The third thing to do in order to keep the ‘ol “Greed glands” in check is to plan every trade, and trade the plan. This is best done in a trading journal. It will help in staying on track and remaining objective.
How are you keeping your “greed glands” in check?
One Response to “Athletic Entitlement – Who’s Next?”
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I realize that everything in life is habitual, I replace my bad habits with new and positive ones that will benefit me with my trading. Greed is nothing more than just a habit gone haywire, I replaced it with discipline, thank you (Tony Monk)