T2W Trading Community

Over the years, traders have pointedly asked why they should spend so much money for Neuro-Linguistic (NLP) counseling to solve their trading problems.  A fair number of these traders have gone through traditional therapy, taking months or years, of weekly and bi-weekly sessions that are relatively inexpensive per session.  If these same traders have not achieved the results they wanted through such an extended therapy, how can I justify asking for a major financial commitment for two days of work?  An excellent question, I will begin my answer by telling one of my favorite stories:

A ship breaks down just before getting ready to take off on a long trip. The engineers try all of their usual tricks to get it started, but nothing works.  Just then, a clever but naive young engineer decides to look in the yellow pages. He remembers a TV commercial that said that you could find anything there.  Low and behold, he finds an ad for a man who claims that he can fix any ship. The young engineer called this Mr. Fixit and told him that many people would be grateful if he would come to look at the ship and see what he could do. Soon, the man appeared on board. With only a hammer in hand, he descended to the boiler room, and appraised the situation for a long minute. Then, he lifted his hammer and tapped. Immediately, the ship started.  While everyone was jumping with joy and gratitude, the man reached out his hand and said, “That will be a thousand dollars.” In disbelief that anyone would charge a thousand dollars for one minute’s work, the captain shouted, “I want an itemized statement!” “Absolutely,” replied the man, scribbling out an invoice and handing it to the captain.  The invoice read,

          $1.00 for tapping
          $999.00 for knowing where to tap

Psychological Changes Happen Instantly
Just as it is important to know where to tap to get machinery to work, it is important to know where to tap when you need to get people to work efficiently and effectively.  All dramatic psychological changes take place in an instant.  Getting to the point where that change can take place is what takes time.  How much time it takes for the dramatic change to occur depends on the facilitator’s experience, training, and knowledge to determine where and how to tap - and on the desire of the client to allow it to happen.  This principle forms the basis of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Doing the “Trader Tap”
In spite of a good methodology, in the end, a trader’s success is all about his ability to tap his psychology into taking the trade. When a trader has psychological blocks because of fear, he will sabotage his method and himself. The decision-making moment is defined by a trader’s ability to face the demons of the past and the pictures he creates of failure or success in the future. Just like a good tap dancer flows from one step to the next, the same flow has to exist for a trader to get the most out of his system.

Michael was a good trader; but when he had a high level of stress, he would revert back to being a vulnerable child.  This pattern created indecision and sabotaged his results. When Michael first started trading, these stressful moments would occur as infrequently as once a year. After years of trading, however, he began to suffer from episodes as often as twice a month. He called me when these episodes began occurring even more frequently. Michael had good reason to develop more stress in his life.  His new baby son was diagnosed with autism and the child’s condition absorbed all of his wife’s attention, making her exhausted and depressed. When Michael came home at night, his wife made his life miserable through her complaints and demands.

In addition to dealing with Michael’s present situation, we also had to deal with the issues from the past that caused his moments of sabotage.

One-Upmanship
When Michael spoke to me about his life, it would seem by his programming that he should have been destined for greatness.  There did not seem to be anything that would hamper great success, but intuitively I felt that there was. So, I did what I call “one-upmanship counseling.” This is accomplished by going through a series of stories about issues that other traders have had that have held them back and watch for some reaction.  When a client feels compelled to speak about a situation that is similar in his life, I listen.  Michael’s unconscious responded. He talked about an incident from his childhood where a summer camp counselor took him aside and proceeded to coerce him into inappropriate behavior. As Michael spoke of this incident he was detached from his feelings, as if the incident had no effect on him. Later, in an altered state, this situation proved to be traumatic and the cause of his not feeling worthy of achieving success.

Learning Where to Tap
I started studying psychology while going through a difficult divorce. My husband was suffering from the psychological effects of serving in the Vietnam War. Feeling helpless and vulnerable, I decided that I needed to understand the workings of the mind. I wanted to understand how a normal human could instantly change into a troubled person by experiencing one or more horrifying moments. If a person could change in a negative way so quickly, I was convinced that he could change quickly in a positive way, as well. 

At first, I investigated various forms of “talk psychology.” In typical “talk psychology,” a person needs to discover “why” problems occur. This discovery period can take a long time. Too often, the discovery has little effect on making dramatic changes. Then, I started studying hypnosis and found that while it was useful, it had to be used in conjunction with other types of psychology to be effective. Ericksonian hypnosis led me to Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). While I have found that all forms of psychology have been useful for me to study, NLP is the fastest and most effective way to make changes. Once a skilled NLP practitioner learns how people have programmed themselves, knowing where to tap makes dramatic change immediate and effective.