Part Two:
That’s right – you can’t always say, “yes”. There are some things you will have to say “no” to in order to succeed in your stock trading and financial goals.
In the last episode, we talked about things you need to say “yes” to in order to be profitable. If you haven’t had the chance to check that one out yet, you can click here to do so. All podcasts are also available on iTunes and Stitcher.
Here’s what you have to say “no” to:
1. Television
I just read an article in the New York Times where they posted a survey of people’s TV time. The average American watches about 4.5 – 5 hours of TV every day. During the work week, that is 25 hours that you are pouring into TV! The bottom line is: You need to say no to it. Most people do not have enough time to do all of the things you want to do – working out, faith, being a good husband/wife, cleaning, work, etc… there is never enough time in the day! You must DECIDE how you want to spend your 24 hours that you have.
If you are spending your time watching TV, you need to ask yourself: What am I not doing? We are talking about the stock market. A lot of people say that they do not have enough time to learn about it and then trade. If I hung out with you for a day or a week to see how you were spending your time, I bet you some TV time is in there somewhere. You have to cut out watching TV.
Keep in mind:
The things we are saying no to is “no, for right now”, not “no, forever”
Once you get yourself financially stable and in line with your goals, you will have more room in your schedule. You can go back to watching a little TV.
2. Sleep
This is a big one! People looooove their sleep. I usually don’t sleep when I am stressed out about something or when I am excited about something.
You have to say no to sleep in the sense that you need to get everything else in your life done, and on top of that you need to be learning how to trade. Sometimes you need to go to bed a little later and get up a little earlier. If you have a full-time job, you need to be able to scan the charts either before or after work. You need to get up before the rest of the household wakes up so you can do your research.
But I guarantee you: once you start to see the system working, you will start to lose sleep for a different reason – because you are EXCITED. You are excited to get up because it is working for you! And later on, you will start to buy your time back. For example, you will be able to financially afford a housekeeper, maybe you will not need to work as much so you have more time, etc.
3. Material things
For the ladies, you will have to say no to the purses and shoes, and no to the expensive make-ups. Fellas, you need give the ladies a pass. If they say no to the expensive hair cut, let them say no. And you will need to say no to the X-Box, the expensive gym shoes, designer sunglasses, rims on your car, etc…
It sounds like a Debbie-Downer. But it’s not – it is about sacrifice. Some people have the attitude, “I work so hard for these things, I deserve it”. The problem with this attitude is that it is immediate – you need to be okay with delayed gratification. You can play now, and pay for it later. OR you can pay for it now and then get to play later, when everyone else is having to pay for it. Sometimes that means saying no to material things right now.
This is because most people do not have the money to get involved with the stock market. And when people tell me they just don’t have it to get started… It’s not that you don’t have it, its just you don’t see the value. If I walked through your house, I can see the things you could afford that doesn’t make you any money. For example, the expensive cable bill, the flat screen TV on the wall, the designer purses, sunglasses, etc.
We have money for what we want to have money for most of the time.
You typically just didn’t see the value in delayed gratification, and saying no to it now and shift that money over to something that makes money for you. Then you allow for THAT money to pay for those things later. Use your investments to pay for those things. No for now, not no forever.
4. Traditional thinking
In one of my previous episodes, I discussed why I do not talk about business things with my Mother even though I love her. It is because she has traditional thinking, there is nothing wrong with that in what she grew up in. “Work hard, work for 40 years, retire”. It believes the only way you can learn about the stock market is going to a physical university.
Non-traditional thinking says that yes, I can learn about the stock market from someone on YouTube, even though he doesn’t work with some big-named bank.
Traditional thinking is saying you need to actually move to New York and get a job on Wall Street in order to be in this industry. The reality is – if you have good internet connection and high-speed internet, you can do this from anywhere.
For some people, that might blow their minds. They may not believe in putting their credit card information online, they need to fly to New York and meet someone in person. You need to say no to traditional thinking if you are the common person. Think outside of the box.
When you learn how this industry works, it will challenge a lot of things that you were brought up with. You typically do what’s opposite of the news – when the news says get out, typically that is when you should be buying. And when it is doing well, you should be selling into strengths. However, traditional thinking goes against this. When you buy at the high, nothing can go up forever. There are ebbs and flows to it. So you typically end up buying at the high, then have to sell when it is low when you are a traditional thinker.
5. Fear
You have to say “no” to fear. Get over the fear of losing money and making decisions in this industry.
If you lost all of your money right now, what would you do the next day?
What I would do is go get a job. If you already have a job, you will go to work tomorrow. Which is what you would have done anyways! This means that you are already living failure. As long as you are not risking your mortgage or car note or anything that would put your family at risk (which you shouldn’t be if you are saying no to the material things), you are risking excess money – you are already in failure. You will get your paycheck in two weeks and life will go on as normal.
So what is it exactly that you fear?
Is it making a mistake? If you are a parent, have you ever made a parenting mistake? Did you get over it and learn from it? In college, did you ever flunk a class? Do you still have a degree? That is proof that you can make a mistake, recover, and still attain your goal. You are living proof that you can make a mistake.
But some people put so much pressure on themselves that they cannot make a mistake that they get “analysis paralysis”. Instead of learning how not to make these mistakes and getting the right education, they do nothing. I think people fear looking stupid. They don’t want to tell people they lost money, because some of the people closest to us are the most critical. Most people get beat up for making a mistake – at work when you make a mistake, it’s a write-up and it goes on your file.
F – false
E – evidence
A – appearing
R – real
You should fear: What’s going to happen if I don’t learn how to invest? What will happen if I don’t take control of my financial future? Do I really believe my 401K is enough for me to retire?
Could you really look stupider than someone who didn’t learn how to trade at all? At least you opened an account, learned how to do it, placed a trade! Maybe it just didn’t work out. So who is judging you when they are not even in the game? Who cares what their opinions are?
6. Greed
Humans generally tend to be pretty greedy. Once we start making a little bit of money, we risk even more. You start placing trades you shouldn’t be placing, or stay in trades longer than you should, or start breaking your rules. I have fallen victim to greed several times. Say no to it!
Greed can show up in the form of material things – because we get greedy, “oh no, I am not letting that stuff go! Or I am not letting the TV go!” But you are also saying you want financial success. You need to sacrifice some of the things you currently have for a short-term time.
7. Credit card debt
This encompasses everything we talked about. If you aren’t saying no, you are putting it on a credit card. You are putting shopping, material things, your rims, etc, on a credit card. When you have credit card debt and don’t have personal finances in place, you do NOT have room to make a mistake. So fear and greed creeps in. You are afraid to lose it because you need to pay that bill, you get greedy and need to make more because you’re tight in cash. This is really keeping most people a slave to the credit card owners. You are getting charged interest on it, you can pay like twice as much on the same product. It keeps your mentality enslaved because you can’t afford to take risks.
“I can’t afford to takes risks” is one of the saddest things people say to me.
What do you have in your life that you owe on every month that you cannot afford to take risks? Well it typically is a TV, clothes, high cable bill, all of these things. And we justify it – “I need to have the TV for the kids” or “I had to get those gifts for Christmas”. Is there any kids that ever survived without a TV for 6 months – 1 year? Is there any family member who stopped talking to you because you didn’t get them a gift for Christmas?
Credit card debt keeps you a slave from taking risks and being okay with whatever the outcome is because you don’t owe anybody!
I used to be in a ton of credit card debt, at my peek like 30,000 dollars in CC debt. When the creditors would call me, I would have to tell them I don’t have it. And it felt horrible! On the opposite side now, it feels SO GOOD not to owe anybody. No one is calling me to collect – in fact they now try and sell me things.
So now I have the swag and confidence to take risks! Allows me to take calculated risks, because if it doesn’t work out, it is okay because we don’t live beyond our means or owe anyone.
Sit down and ask yourself: Am I saying “no” to material things? To TV? To sleep? Fear? Greed? Traditional thinking? Credit card debt?
Sometimes this is tough to say no to – because it also can include saying no to people who influence these things or saying no to the things you want. But just note that this is just saying no FOR A TIME, not for forever. Then you will be able to say “yes” to the things you have never been able to say yes to before – the dream car, the vacation, etc, and PAY CASH FOR IT. Or put it on the credit card and immediately pay it off, and get the rewards. That’s right, now the credit card companies owe you something.
Take inventory of your life – think about the things you are saying “yes” to in the last episode and the things you are saying “no” to in this one.
If you want to partner with me and hundreds of other members who are making stocks and options work for them, go to www.PowerTradesUniversity.com and check out our courses and Group Coaching program.