A Short Guide On Reducing A Mental Pattern That Holds 90% Of Traders Back.
You may or may not be new to “the make money online space” of the internet. If you’ve been actively online over the last decade, surely you’ll have noticed an increase in marketing, claims, opportunities available to make a full time income online. While this abundance of opportunity has plenty of pros, it’s hard to deny that it also comes with its downsides. In this article we’re going to break down how you can become laser focused in a time of endless distraction… and loosen the grasp that shiny object syndrome may have over you (whether you’re aware of it having this grip on you or not).
What Exactly Is Shiny Object Syndrome?
Let’s start with an example. You’ve likely experienced this before: you’re actively trying to progress at some pursuit, some interest of yours, in your current case: learning how to trade and eventually make it your full time gig. However, you are routinely pulled in various directions by forms of income you could be earning that appear easier… or are at least marketed as such. You finally decide on a strategy to trade and commit to, only to find yourself researching and being sold on a different approach that appears to be the holy grail and the answer to finally becoming a consistently profitable trader.
This habit of looking over the fence where the grass appears to be greener is what is referred to as “shiny object syndrome”. It’s a pattern of thinking that something other than what you’re currently doing is going to be easier, better, different in some way. It’s putting something else on a pedestal, up and above what you’re currently doing in the expectation that it’s what you need to get to where you’re wanting to go. While there’s nothing wrong with trying new things, it becomes a problem when you’re unable to stick with things long enough to have results materialize. We’ll get into this further throughout this article as well as how you can see through SOS, stick with things and see them through to results.
When SOS (Shiny Object Syndrome) Becomes A Problem
What people typically fail to truly understand on a fundamental level, is that most things take a long time to master. If your goal is to become the best of the best at whatever it is you’ve decided to pursue, it will take an inordinate amount of time to become that person with that level of skill. You may have heard of the 10,000 hour rule that Malcom Gladwell titled. Whether or not that 10,000 hour rule is exactly accurate is not important, what is important however… is the truth that it takes a very long time to become top 1%. Trading is no different. The problem with shiny object syndrome in our industry is that traders are consistently marketed to with an easier way, a faster way, a better way to make money. A promise of something quicker… that reshapes our beliefs and expectations about how it’s “supposed to go”. Over time, having been shown so many claims and testimonials of quick wins, we begin to believe that “fast” is normal… when this could not be further from the truth.
SOS becomes a problem when traders who are on track to making progress with their strategy start to get impatient and begin doubting the program they are in thinking that it “does not work”, when in fact they have yet to work it. You will not become successful in days, weeks or months. This is a journey that requires years of consistent work to get good. The same way you’d go to school for 4+ years just to be equipped with the skills that allow you into the workplace at most companies, trading requires a lot of education and experience prior to becoming consistently profitable. To reach consistent profitability and the opportunity to acquire funds and scale funds, you must first develop the ability to stick with things long enough consistently for results to materialize.
Cutting Out The Noise And Seeing It Through To Consistency + Funding
This is what the top 10% of traders do. This is what separates the winners from the losers. 90% of traders fail… and it’s our firm belief that it’s based on mindset and their poor expectations about how this journey is supposed to go. We want things fast, and it’s detrimental. Those who win in this space are playing the long game. They are pursuing mastery, not a quick buck.
What you need to do is choose one mentor, one strategy, one community to commit to. And you need to commit to it for at least the next 12 months. You need to decide that trading is the skill/career that you want to master… not just some hobby you’re playing at to cover next month’s rent. Those that stick around in this space are those who desire to join the top players. To be among the best, you’re required to do as they do to get the results they have.
Having reviewed data here at Phantom of those who have experienced wins in the form of consistent profitability and account funding in the $100k-$400k range, we’ve seen patterns. Typically it’s those who have been active in the community for 6-18 months and who have reviewed the course content multiple times, they show up to group coaching calls, they regularly ask questions in the group when they’re stuck or confused about something… and they step up to the plate and swing again and again (taking prop firm free challenges and live challenges to sharpen their skills).
If you can remove all sense of hurry… the need to reach your goals by X arbitrary date that you’ve set for yourself, and instead just show up each day with the aim of improving even just 1% more over the trader you were yesterday, done long enough consistently… success becomes inevitable. It’s impossible for you to NOT achieve consistent profitability and capital funding if you simply never give up and continue to sharpen your skills and hone your edge.
A guaranteed way to fail however, is to jump from strategy to strategy, from one make money online opportunity to another every 3-6 months in the hopes this is the ONE. If you want to keep restarting the process over again and live in that beginner state for years to come, that’s how you do it.
How To Beat It: Our Plan For You
Having seen far too many traders give up due to the exhaustion that SOS inflicts… we created a trading roadmap that helps traders become laser focused and commit to a single process that is proven to produce winners time and time again when followed closely. This roadmap covers a 12 month plan from wherever you may be in your trading journey, through to consistency and securing funding through one of many of our partner prop firms. We were tired of seeing so many traders become frustrated with their lack of results in the short windows of time they’d allot themselves before giving up and moving on to the “next best thing”. This roadmap reshapes how you see the trading journey. It resets and rewires your expectations about how it’s supposed to go… setting you up correctly from the start… so all that’s left is study, practice, support… and inevitable results.
Above all else, helping traders get their mindsets right and reset their expectations about how the journey is supposed to look and feel… is our top priority. It’s our belief that 90% of traders fail and give up because they are set up to fail from the beginning. Everyone comes into this game expecting to make a quick buck, and that is why they fail. Instead, if you can come into the trading space and know that it will require time and effort the same way any skill set requires time to develop, you’ll be well on your way to winning. When you’re faced with adversity in your trading journey, as everyone is… you’ll seek out help from your mentors and your community vs. thinking “it doesn’t work” and giving up to try the next thing that’s marketed to you. It’s not supposed to be easy and feel good 24/7.
It’s going to be uncomfortable and you’ll doubt yourself at times. This is an unavoidable factor of growth. The same way pressure and flexion must be applied to muscle in the gym to grow, your mind has to face challenges, fail and learn from them to grow. You’ll be wrong more often than you’ll be right in the start. This is the case for everyone starting out. Over time you’ll be less wrong, more right… and you’ll start to pick up momentum. Done long enough consistently, results are inevitable. Consistent profitability and getting funding are inevitable. You just have to commit to the process and see it through.
Ready To Get Started?
Click here to join us at Phantom Trading and get exclusive access to our global trading community of 1000’s of like minded traders, plus learn from our team of funded traders with a combined 50+ years of trading experience featuring the founders Wyse & Kevin who have institutional experience and experience with trading private capital, plus our team members who have over $1.5 million in funding through prop-firms combined.
Robert Castillo
@coldwaterfx
FX Trader & Analyst
Writer & Editor
Rob is a funded trader from Toronto, Canada, and has been trading currencies, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies for over 7 years. Outside of trading, he enjoys making music, boxing, and riding motorcycles.
