Positive affirmation

[mister man]

Jeff
in all seriousness, i used to be a devotee like you, yes its true, i do have a copy of you cant afford the luxury of a negative thought, the rules of life and a vincent peale book or two still knocking about from years ago.
Indeed i used to run training courses for my employers that involved a lot of positive thinking and techniques such as this.
However im now poacher turned gamekeeper, being much older and as you would have it not wiser, i realise its severe limitatations and I would go so far as to say its a load of old cobblers.
But if it makes you personally happy, all well and good.
Ive seen too much of life myself and some of its effects in others now to not believe as I do now..
false positivity can be just as dangerous as over negativity, and many of its purveyors wouldnt know a genuine hard time and the effects it can have on the human spirit if it hit them in their moisturised face.
It takes a far stronger man than i to smile and be blissfully serene through thinking positive thoughts, so well done for that, you have me beat.

yes ive been through a fair bit, and tbh it did me no good at the time and in subsequent years, apart from get people to say about me "i dont know how you stay so positive, how do you do it, amazing etc, etc...

enough already....

i doubt very much if john terry had been reciting positive statements and infusing himself with more positivity than he has already when walking to the penalty area in russia, that he would not have missed the penalty in the champions league final, all the positivity in the world would be as nothing compared to changing his boots for those with a slightly longer stud.

cheers and we will just have to differ

[Iron]

I'm not advocating telling lies to yourself. In fact, I'm a firm believer in people being brutally honest with themselves, as you only improve at anything if you know where you're going wrong.

But equally, I think we have a choice of whether to spend our time wallowing in misery or thinking positive thoughts (or, at very least, focusing on the doing - living in the here and now, without positive or negative judgement).

It's interesting you mention penalty taking. There was a time when Ruud Van Nistlerooy was at Man U when you would have bet your house on him scoring a penalty. But then he missed a couple, and it was obviously playing on his mind. I remember thinking, before he took a particular penalty, that he'd miss it. His body language said he had doubts in his mind, and lo and behold, he failed to score! Just a couple of months previously, he'd have hit the back of the net 99 times out of 100. You can't tell me that miss wasn't due to what was going on in his head...

Jeff

[CaerMyrddin]

Cheers mister man, this was a constructive post by you!

I have to agree with Jeff, honest positive thinking can do miracles. We are not defending you should be building castles on the air, but your chances do improve by staying positive.

I'm no shrink, but maybe whatever you had to deal with was never properly dealt with?

Penalty taking is one of the things where psicology has a profound impact.

It's a bit of a gamble, but you can figure out much of what's about to happen just looking to a players face. I made a killing in this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmH9aXQNNz0

Look at Cardozo's face, he's simply frightened.

[Quinny]

What a load of bollocks positive affirmation/thinking is. It is harmful and destructive, it limits progress and is hostage to self esteem and dignity.

Only charlatan psychologists believe this shit now. And those who have a vested (monetary) interest in brain washing the weak and vulnerable.

Learn about your own true nature and you will see.

For the record, I don't think this can be achieved spending your life looking for other persons' opinions on message boards like this. Adding your two bobs worth to every thread.

My own understanding of the trading markets excelled out of all recognition when I stopped visiting trading message boards. You can not survive this discipline unless you think independently. You won't achieve that by relying on your learning from these places.

Listen least to those who speak the most.

[Iron]

Quinny

Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Do you have any constructive advice re. how to achieve success in trading and life?

I'm not being facetious, btw. For you to have coached Andy Murray, you must be an expert in peak performance psychology...

Jeff

PS Your colourful language is interesting, given that you've written in a previous post 'Why do you allow vulgar language on the forum. This is the single biggest reason why I don't contribute so often.
SO why?'

[Innertube]

For the record, I don't think this can be achieved spending your life looking for other persons' opinions on message boards like this. Adding your two bobs worth to every thread.

So why do you do it then?

[mister man]

cheers quinny, i knew i wasnt alone.

agree with the message board thing too, by and large.

I used to 3/4 yrs ago frequent too often the betfair forum, i stopped due to the absolute numpties on their, clouding my judgement with poor advice etc and wasting my time on who supports which team rubbish (who cares) my trading improved substantially as a result.

even such simple things as the post before this, where you have a simple question/rhetorical statement clouded in clever dick type comment, can be quite upsetting in the short term, esp by the inclusion of a smug smiley or even worse laughing face.
nobody likes to be ridiculed or belittled do they...

cheers.

[superfrank]

for what it's worth i'm with mister man and quinny on this one.

successful people have to have some talent in the first place (for trader's some decent edges). a PMA just helps them to keep focused to trust in their ability and maintain confidence (e.g. Tiger Woods).

a person with little or no talent can read all the self-help rubbish in the world, but all it will give them is a misguided belief that can be dangerous for their mental health.

look at all these idiots who go on talent shows... many of them convinced they have the 'X-factor' or some such nonsense, when the truth is that they can't sing for sh1t.

[Innertube]

Positive affirmation or whatever you want to call it isn't good enough on it's own but having a positive outlook rather than a negative one will really change your outlook. My previous comment on this thread was aimed at one of the most negative posters to ever appear on this forum. Basically representing everything that is bad about forums.

Always do your research before agreeing with somebody misterman or else you will get parked in the same place as them.

[mister man]

innertube...
you call it negative, i call it realistic...

tbh, the worst thing in forums is what you did with your laughing smiley, not what i do imho..

i just say what i think, rather than being a sheep.
i understand a lot of people dont like that..

good luck today to all

[superfrank]

i agree mister man has posted some rather odd comments!, but maybe that's just his tone - and it doesn't mean everything he says has no value.

[mister man]

thanks frank..
i accept im quirky...

and not always right, and that It is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.

i dont want this thread hijacked and to be about me, its about positivity etc on which im just passing on my views.

happy trading all

[Innertube]

Curiously I think we have a few posts here that show the negative positive balance in broad daylight. My post wasn't aimed at misterman at all, it was aimed at Quinny. I was just letting misterman know that Quinny has a bit of a history.

[superfrank]

fair enough, i got the wrong end of the stick.

[Innertube]

NP, that's what I like about this forum. Lots of sports talk and we all get along.