Breaking through the fear of going ‘fully in’ with your trading

About 10 years ago I had to face a serious trading challenge.

I wasn’t able to go ‘full in’ with my trading.

And I couldn’t figure out why.

I had a good day trading strategy and had been trading it live for a while already.

Yet, I was trading it with one contract only. Thus the overall profits were not enough to live comfortably.

I knew I had to increase my positions to 3 contracts at least to make the numbers work.

But I simply couldn’t.

I was too afraid to do that and I couldn’t understand why.

And it started getting even worse. With my inability to increase my position size, I started losing my self-confidence too, resulting in poorer trading performance.

One day I felt so exhausted by the frustration and anxiety that I felt I had to do something else. At least for a while. To keep me away from the markets and from trading. To get some distance.

So, I decided to do a crazy thing: To learn to fly a small plane.

In the Czech Republic, flying ultralight planes has a long tradition. And the courses are pretty cheap too. So, I signed up for my very first flying lesson.

So far nothing unusual about this story, except for one small detail:

I was afraid of flying!

Whenever I had to board a plane, I would have an anxiety attack. And I would shake like a scared rabbit for the entire flight.

Yet, here I was – dedicated to becoming a pilot of a small, unstable “ultralight”!

The first lesson pushed me to my very limits. I felt scared as hell.

But somehow I made it.

During the next few lessons, I started getting used to the whole experience.

Then I slowly started learning landing, taking off, touch-and-go landing, slide landing, emergency landing (without the engine) and all the other stuff.

After about 25 flight hours, I felt pretty comfortable being high in the skies with that small, shaking Tecnam P92.

And then, one day, I had to get a flight out of the Czech Republic again, on a regular commercial flight…

It was a real test.

I was again faced with one of my biggest fears.

So, I boarded the Boeing 737, fastened my seat belt, leaned back into my seat during the take-off and noticed…

…my fear of flying was gone!

And even better than that, I felt great.

I enjoyed it.

I had enormous fun. And enormous joy too. I understood most of the pilot’s actions, the plane’s movements and even the reason behind the occasional light turbulence.

That day I learned an important lesson:

Always face your biggest fears as directly as possible.

That’s what truly keeps you moving ahead.

After that realization, I got back into trading and increased my position to 3 contracts without a blink of an eye.

Yes, it pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit – but hey, that’s what makes our life interesting!

And that finally started me going “fully in”.

So, if you feel a bit stuck and hesitant with your trading sometimes, then feel the fear, but do it anyway.

That’s the fastest way to break through that imaginary wall and move ahead.

Happy trading,

Tomas

P.S.

And don’t forget, for some serious breakthrough seekers, we have the ‘Breakout Trading Masterclass’, with its amazing breakout trading community. That’s where we challenge ourselves every single day and are working on becoming truly exceptional traders.