There are no decisions to make
TradingLife Podcast with Brad JelinekFebruary 11, 202500:06:155.79 MB

There are no decisions to make

When you are centered in what you’re doing there’s really never a decision you have to make the decision will be obvious and the pull will be natural.

[00:00:01] I have to do a podcast today because it's naturally inspiring. I've talked to a friend and we got into a good conversation. I just want to do a podcast on it. It's just about, there's never a decision to make. So when you're centered and you're not in an unconscious state, there's never anything that you have to pick between.

[00:00:18] So think about when you're not, when I say centered, I mean like you got your right mind about you. You're calm. You don't feel emotional. There's no FOMO. There's no fear. There's no giddiness or there's just like this relaxed beingness kind of a thing. And in that spot, we've all been there. Hopefully there are more than we're not. In that spot, there's never any decisions to make because it's just like the flow of life pulls you where you need to go.

[00:00:47] And that could, usually it's somewhere you don't expect, but it's kind of like a gentle, just you feel like you have to do this or you feel like you need to meditate. You feel like you need to read this book, this topic, reach out to that person, trade this style, you know, engage with AI tools, whatever. And when you feel like it's drudgery, it's not the right thing to do. This linear thinking about like, I have to do these things to make a living or to improve doesn't work that way.

[00:01:17] It's like a dance. It's like an agreement between what you're doing and what you want to do. And that puts you forward. And when you start acting from the personal character, when I say personal character, I mean like the bag of stories that makes you who you think you are, which is not what you are, then it's trouble. It's like, it comes in that linear thinking again, like that left brain, rational, logical approach to things.

[00:01:43] That's why super heady intellectual people who are very smart sometimes struggle with going into a flow because everything's so in your head that you can't just let go. So, and the good analogy is like the surfer, the surfer analogy. I had a coach I hired and she was awesome. And she, this is years ago, always talked about, I have mentioned this on other podcasts, but if you haven't heard it,

[00:02:08] it's like you can be in there surfing your ass off every day and trying to get better and showing up and waiting there and making the best set of whatever's available. Sounds familiar, right? Do the best with what you got, show up every day, work hard, or you can show up, enjoy the sun coming up and being like, I don't know, nothing might happen today. I'm just going to sit here, read a book and relax. And all of a sudden the waves start coming to look pretty big. So what do you do? You go out there and surf and the water just takes you away. You're in the flow. Like you don't have to do anything. Opportunities keep coming.

[00:02:37] And then when it slows down, you leave. Contrast that with working hard, you know, grinding it out. And then when the big wave comes, you're tired or you're sloppy or I don't know, you get it. And I think that's just so important to keep coming back to that because that is no AI, no technology is ever going to change this stuff. And this is by far my favorite topic because it's really the most important possible thing.

[00:03:04] I think I had a podcast, the most important thing. And I'm pretty sure this is this kind of stuff I was talking about because it always is where you got to like, if you're stressed out, like I was talking with my friend and he's kind of just a little like been doing the same thing for a long time in the market, but a little bored and kind of just like, well, I'm, I'm effective at what I do, but it's not really growing a lot for me.

[00:03:24] It's a little boring and I guess I got to do this. And it's just like at those moments, it's like, okay, well, the reframe might be, and I'm not trying to coach anybody. I'm talking to myself because I have had this many times. It's like, okay, well, I'm glad I can have something that works. And I've earned a lot of money for my family and security for myself by, by figuring that out.

[00:03:47] And now I have to optimize that, but by only going in when it's most effective and then looking at other areas of my life where I can do more and enjoy the free time more and exercise or hand out with my family, whatever. And in that process, you kind of let go. And when you let go, that's like the guy who's going down and only surfing when the waves are out. And all of a sudden the waves come and you get pulled into something that you don't expect. Maybe it's not a trading strategy. Maybe it's a business idea. And all of a sudden you got your strategy that's earning you money.

[00:04:16] That's like kind of like on autopilot, like your legacy model or whatever you want to call it. And then you got this other stuff that came in to your life because you weren't trying to fight everything and you weren't trying. You're so cluttered and like so full of resistance trying to, to fight it. And then all of a sudden you're not fighting it and it makes it easy. And during the day, like when you're trading, it could be like this too, where you're, you're, you know, you hit your head on the wall and you're like, oh, I see this move. I need to try it three times. And versus like that, I don't really care what I do today.

[00:04:43] Maybe I won't do any trades. Let's just do some research. Let's look at my levels, whatever you're doing. Let's relax. If X, Y, and Z happens, maybe I trade. Otherwise I don't. And that works really well for me when I do that. I'm mostly not trading during the day as much right now, but that works well in any time frame. So just to kind of the highlight of this is to understand that there aren't decisions that you have to make when you're in a balanced state because life just makes them for you.

[00:05:10] Doesn't mean that you just do everything in front of you, but you kind of know where to go. But this natural like curiosity, this natural pull, it's like you meet somebody that you want to date or marry or whatever. Like there's a natural pull, like a knowingness kind of a thing. It's not forced versus someone who's like, oh, you know, they may have all the qualities I want, but it doesn't really feel like it's a thing. But it should be the thing. I wish it was the thing. It's just not. And this kind of like this, I feel like this stuff works that way too.

[00:05:36] So I am always doing better when I'm thinking this way. So right now for me, it's like, I love the AI tools that I read newsletters every day. I'm looking at the new stuff. I'm trying to figure out how to apply it to my trading. I'm making more fundamental screeners, sentiment screeners. Just thinking about like, how can I make my process tighter? What can I add? Is there something I could maybe use coding to help me do faster?

[00:06:00] And I just enjoy it. And it's kind of, maybe it's just a big distraction for something even larger that's going to come when I'm not hitting my head on the wall. But yeah, I feel like this is good even to talk this to myself. So hopefully others like it too.