By Admiral Markets
Dear Traders,
Almost all traders make the classic error of trading the markets, while being distracted by past mistakes.
No doubt, you sometimes find yourself caught in this mental trap too right?
Luckily, there is a way to understand why you keep losing your focus and control.
In today’s post, I will explain the concept of the so-called time dimensions:
Free Reports:
… and show you how they impact the way you trade without you even noticing it.
Then you can start applying this knowledge of time dimensions to your trading – and see the improvements in no time.
Pardon the pun.
Let’s start with the obvious.
Each person views time in their own way.
From the day we first go to school, we learn that we live in past, present and future.
Or do we?
According to psychologists Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd, we actually live in six time dimensions simultaneously.
Their book The Time Paradox describes these time dimensions as:
Though the theory of six time dimensions refers to people in general, I think it has greater application in the context of traders.
The time dimensions impact our trading methods, trading psychology and performance.
I’ve used trading quizzes as educational materials in the past, so this next step won’t come as a surprise.
If you want to find out more about your time dimensions – you have to take The Time Paradox test.
The impact of time dimensions on trader personality, varies widely.
There is no clear mathematical formula that calculates your trading performance based on your time dimension score.
However:
… the knowledge of time dimensions provides insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your trading.
In short, it helps you understand yourself as a trader.
Additionally, it may uncover the reasons why you repeatedly make the same mistakes and could even lead you the right way.
Let me give you a real-life example.
A trader has a high score for the hedonistic time dimension and a low score for the future dimension.
The trader’s main problem is taking trades that are too risky.
This problem was probably caused or worsened by the trader’s perspective on time i.e:
Or consider a trader who is constantly worried about past trades.
No doubt, this anxiety comes from the extremely negative view of the past.
Yet another trader might tend to lose focus and motivation quickly:
…only to realise that they have a high score for the fatalistic time dimension.
Finally, if you have scored high for the future time dimension – you may find you are much better as a swing trader than intra-day trader.
Your focus on the future improves your planning skills and lowers your flexibility in the present.
I could go on with these examples but hopefully the ones I’ve already mentioned are enough to illustrate the advantage of knowing your time dimensions.
Each trader has their own set of time dimensions, trading challenges and a unique personality.
This post aims to give you a new method for optimising time dimensions and knowing yourself better as a trader.
In turn, this could shed a different light on your trading challenges and offer some needed inspiration.
I hope I helped you find this motivation for self-improvement.
If not, at least you learned something new today and killed some time doing the quiz.
Want to know my personal test scores?
Well, it was a while ago but my scores were as follows:
As always, there are still ways to improve – but now I know where to apply the effort.
Let’s work on our scores together.
For starters, you can:
If there’s one takeaway from The Time Paradox, it’s that the future starts today.
Cheers and safe trading,
Chris
Source: Learn how time paradox impacts your trading
Admiral Markets is a leading online provider, offering trading with Forex and CFDs on stocks, indices, precious metals and energy.