Have you ever taken a trade and after the trade closed it was as if someone had control of your mouse? In other words, you realized that the illusion that you just traded seemed real, but it wasn’t, and you were trading without clarity. The importance of remaining aware can’t be overstated. Every day, millions of traders get caught in a “negative trader trance.” This is when you have ended your trading session and look over the results only to see carnage; rules violations, broken commitments and invariably lots of losses. But, while the trades were taking place you lurched forward with your head down even though part of you knew that you were violating rules. When these events happen, and most if not all novices have experienced or will experience them, you must get back into the Now, back into the present moment and increase your awareness of not only what you have done – are doing – but as well what you can do to refocus your intentions and reestablish your bearings in order to get the results that you want!

There are traders who have good market knowledge, a good plan, and good money management but fail to keep their commitments and follow-through with the plan. They become so uncomfortable with flaring emotions like fear, anger, anxiety, greed, and self-doubt, to name a few; that traders inadvertently and often unconsciously do something that turns out to be a rule violation. That rule violation, whether, chasing, doubling down on losers or moving a stop etc., is a relief seeking behavior and becomes the precursor to a bad pattern or has already turned into a bad habit. This is when it is critically important to activate a “moment of awareness”. It can mean the difference between maintaining your cool with keeping your plan and the disaster of throwing it all out the window – which is exactly what you’ll incur if you violate your plan and rules. The key is to aim to remain in the moment, for the moment, fully available and fully present at all times. Granted, that is difficult, especially if you are new to the concept.

Actually, you can practice at any time; the trick is getting yourself to practice it when you need it most – at those times in the trade when emotions are starting to storm. What you can do is use “Remember Ma” a little mnemonic that can help you by triggering the exercise of pausing and asking yourself:

1. What is happening right now?
   1. What am I doing?
   2. What am I feeling?
   3. What am I thinking?

Then ask a second primary question:

2. What do I want right now?

In other words, ask yourself what results are you really trying to achieve? Often just the act of asking the question will prompt you to redirect your behavior from being driven by an unconscious pattern to being results oriented. This can lead to a third question:

3. What am I doing right now to prevent me from getting the results I truly want?

Then you can make a choice, all you need to do is say the phrase to yourself, “I choose…” and insert at the end what you want to be the focus of that choice.

4. At that point, take a deep breath and move toward the result that you want by selecting a behavior that represents your A-Game.

This exercise (Remember Ma) involves changing the focus of your attention so that it is on the intention of the A-Game. The intention of your A-Game is clear; it is to master the process of trading as a rule based, plan following trader at all times. When you are pushed outside of your comfort zone by your own unconscious thoughts and emotions based on the meaning you attribute to what you see, then you begin to reach for the temporary relief…chasing, doubling down, moving stops, etc.. This is when you most want to use “Remember Ma” in order to interrupt the bad pattern and get into the Now of the trade so that you can resonate with reality and what matters most in the trade.