Winning is Everything.. or is it?

Hey Joe! I hate to lose. It seems to me that winning is everything - do you agree?

Man do you have a bad case of “have-to-win-at-all-costs.” Every business has losses. Even doctors, but they get to bury their mistakes. Retail stores lose to shop-lifting and even worse employee waste and pilferage. Of course, having a goal of winning is a virtue. It is that of setting a clearly defined goal, and working to achieve it. But an over-emphasis on winning at all costs can be detrimental, especially when it comes to the world of trading.
When I trade, I have two goals. Actually, they are two sides of the same coin. 1. I want to take some profit as soon as I possibly can. 2. I want to get a free trade, so once I have profit, I move my position to breakeven.

Winning is surely important, but it's vital that you look at winning from the proper perspective. Early success, can destroy a trader—we often see this—early wins and then giving it back to the market soon after. This seems to occur when traders are overconfident. As a result of a little skill and some luck, they win on a bunch of trades, but in the end, their wins are only a fluke. And eventually, they "blow out." When it comes to short-term early wins, it's possible to win with only a little knowledge and skill. But watch out! Winning too early and too easily, tends to put take you off-guard. You become overconfident. You erroneously think you have the necessary skills to trade consistently and so you start focusing on maintaining a winning track record. I wish I had the time and space to tell you of how many times I have seen this happen to traders.

But in the long run, a craving to win all the time can lead to failure. For one thing, the more you focus on winning, the more you are likely to freeze-up under the pressure. You have set yourself an unrealistic goal.

Winning isn't nearly as important as consistency and sticking with your plan. So when you're trading, remember you're "winning" even when you are losing as long as you are disciplined and following your trading plan, you may not win on any given trade, but over the course of many trades, you'll be a winner.