Being Overwhelmed and System Development Part 3

My research suggests that the problems people have in developing a trading system fall into five different categories.

The first three areas prevent traders from ever starting (or finishing) the development of a trading system. These include computer/technology phobia, procrastination, and being overwhelmed by the whole process. The last two problems tend to prevent the trader from coming up with a workable system. These include: perfectionism and judgmental biases in your thinking.

In an earlier article we covered procrastination. This week let’s take a closer look at the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Being Overwhelmed

The most difficult thing to overcome, at least when you are in the middle of it, is being overwhelmed by any particular task. And when it comes to developing your own trading system, I see traders get overwhelmed again and again. In this case, your energy is probably low and your head is just swimming with details. Moreover, you don’t understand all of the concepts you need to and you don’t know what to do next. Here’s an example,

John was in the process of developing a trading system. He’d read about ten books on systems and indicators that are used in futures and stock trading. All the indicators confused him and when he thought about varying the parameters of each indicator his mind started spinning. He’d also attended several seminars in which various systems were recommended and taught, but he was not sure they were for him. He was feeling even more confused. The costs were mounting up and taking a toll on his trading capital and that added more pressure. He’d just bought a computer system with all the software to make developing a system easy. But there were so many details to learn. There were at least three manuals to read for him to operate the computer system and they didn’t even tell him where to begin his own development work. The details just kept piling up. John was feeling more and more stressed and soon all he found himself doing was going over everything he had to do without seeming to accomplish anything. He felt desperate to get something done soon or he’d run out of money!

John’s problem is typical of what happens when people are overwhelmed. However, the problem can be solved when you realize there are basically three aspects to being overwhelmed: 1) the concentration on details as opposed to the big picture; 2) being out of balance in your life in some way so there is undue pressure on you; and 3) the lack of a plan to get out of the mess.

The average person has a processing capacity of seven, plus or minus two, chunks of information. When people start concentrating on details, then their capacity is quickly exceeded. When your focus on the details becomes uncomfortable, because of pressure from some source, the feeling of being overwhelmed really starts to set into the mind.

Most people can easily handle a lot of details. In fact, you do so all of the time. However, if your life is out of balance and conflict is created because your needs are not being met, then the details take on a different meaning. Small details that were once trivial seem very important. The pressure to sort out the details multiplies because you create more details as a result of your imbalance. Soon it all builds into a vicious cycle of being overwhelmed! Yet it all started from the pressure of life being out of balance in some area. Maybe just one area is throwing your life out of balance? Is it your finances? Your relationships? A family crisis? A health problem? Balance your life and you’ll be amazed how overwhelming problems suddenly disappear.

Lastly, when people are overwhelmed it is because they don’t see the big picture and thus lack a plan to get away from the details. Probably the sense of being overwhelmed just came over you. You didn’t realize how much your financial pressure (or whatever the pressure) was taking a toll on your ability to think. You also didn’t realize how much you were getting bogged down by the details of system development. Because you don’t have an overall plan, you don’t know how to deal with the details.

Getting Out of Being Overwhelmed.

If you are in the process of developing a trading system and are currently feeling overwhelmed, then the first thing to do is take a break from the task that is giving you the feeling. Take a day off, or perhaps even a week, and just relax. Go to a beach or a lake and just relax looking at the water.

The next step is to determine what aspect of your life is giving you so much pressure. Where is it coming from? (Finances? Relationships? Health? etc.)

Find out what part of you (aspect of your personality) is responsible for the pressure. Once you know which part, you can negotiate with it. Find out how to meet its needs and if it will agree to let you continue with the task of developing a trading system. For example, you may have (1) to agree to give so much time each day to meeting the needs of that part (2) to set a deadline for the development of your trading system and/or (3) to agree to devote full attention to that part once the deadline occurs. Perhaps you have a part of your personality that finds the system development “no fun.” We can call that your “fun” part. To negotiate with your fun part you could agree that once you meet an objective or a deadline then the fun part can have it’s chance to do whatever it is that you think of as fun. [Parts work is covered extensively in the Peak Performance Home Study Course.]

Lastly, you must develop an overall plan for developing your trading system. Work out your objectives in detail! Once your objectives have been written down, you can then develop a plan for meeting those objectives. Divide the plan into various tasks and set a deadline for meeting each of those tasks.

About Van Tharp: Trading coach, and author Dr. Van K Tharp, is widely recognized for his best-selling book Trade Your Way to Financial Fre-edom and his outstanding Peak Performance Home Study program - a highly regarded classic that is suitable for all levels of traders and investors. You can learn more about Van Tharp at www.iitm.com.