【正文】 sful than losing because the next question is always: What are you going to do to top this? Legendary basketball coach John Wooden of UCLA was so aware of the dangers of polar thinking that he would not allow the use of the word win. He also would not permit his players to use the word beat when talking about the other team. He insisted they use the phrase outscored the other team. Wooden was well aware of how dangerous polar thinking is to performance and enjoyment. Polar thinking is equally destructive in the stock and modity markets In trading and investing, as in sports, it is always actually just you against you. Analysis, buying, selling, profits, losses—all e down simply to the level of performance you are able to bring out of yourself. The harsh win/lose framework will destroy your potential and your happiness while raising your stress level and your blood pressure and your life, your profits, and your enjoyment of living. Let39。s gatekeeper. Enjoyment and employment were never considered to be synonyms. Most of the times when traders feel I should be working harder, they are wrong. They should be working easier and making sure that they are taking the work out of trading. If you have been working hard at trading or learning to trade, I strongly suggest an opposite approach. Less enlightened coaches tell us, No pain—no gain, and we accept it because it fits perfectly with our erroneous learning. What it should say is: no pain—no gain—you39。m a firm b01iever in the theory that people only do their best atthings they truly enjoy. It is difficult to excei atsomething you don39。s larger field—you lie down. If everything else is working properly, this ~giving up will allow your organization to recoup, gather energy, and go on its way a bit stronger for the experience. Back to the atoms. This feeling of the presence of another organization is new information, and here es the most crucial decision any organization can make (Figure 112). That decision is whether to The Most Important Que~tion We Can A~k is: What do w~ do with New Information? A) Fit into old cat~gories B) Let it or~aniz ~ elfFigure 112 The most important concept: What do you do with new information? let go of the current organization, or, more likely, to keep the current organization and distort the new ining information into old categories. In fact, percent of the time, the hydrogen atom makes the choice to hold on to its current organization and remain a hydrogen atom. After all, it might say, ever since I can remember, I have been a hydrogen atom and I suppose that is what I should be and I further suppose that I will just remain that way—it has always been good enough. We do exactly the same thing in the markets, and that is what keeps us in our current trance of either losing or limiting our winnings. But here is the kicker: About percent of the time, the hydrogen atom makes a different decision. It makes a TRANCEENDINC~ decision to iet go and just see what happens. Instead of distorting the ining new information (Chaos), it lets the new ining information organize itself. The difference is that instead of solving the problem of new ining information (the gravitational pull), it allows real creatiuity to e in by letting the new information organize itself. The result is WATER, which is very different from either hydrogen or oxygen atoms. Basically, it has no characteristics of either of its ponents. It has literally tranceended to a different and more plicated organization that also gives it more freedom. Now it has a choice of being not only a gas (steam) but also a liquid (water) or a solid (ice). With the higher levels of organization, more alternatives of behavior are created. We know that the market is at least a fivedimensional animal, so it is no surprise that trading a twodimensional chart (price and time) leaves a lot of room for improvement. The entire basis of the Profitunity approach is to tap into these higher and somewhat more plicated levels to tranceend our losing behavior and create more profits. One specific part of our organization that does more to defeat us than any other part is our belief system. All belief systems create a trance of one level or another. When the hydrogen atom decides to give up and let the new information organize itself, it is necessary that it be in a playful mood. It is, in human terms, in the alpha brain wave pattern。t killed and makes them available to fight again. 3. Insurance takes care, financially, of the supporters and kin of those who were killed. 4. Religion takes care of those who are killed. The mon thread is survival. An old country and western song lyric points out that everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die. Survival is the motivation that keeps organizations together. And all four of the above organizations tap into our own personal desire to live rather than die. More than anything, we want this organization we call aourselvesn to go on surviving and not die. In the market, when trends go on longer than we expect, we call it market mania. Rangebound markets also seem to go on longer than we expect. The usual way an organization attempts to survive is by fitting new information into old categories (Figure 111). We will distort this new information in whatever way is necessary to keep our old categories (organization) alive. We begin learning this around two years old when we first decide, I want it my way. We often refer to this era as the terrible twos. It is just the beginning. The Most Important Question We Can Ask Is HOW DO YOU HANDLE NEW INCOMING INFORMATION?Yow Two Choices Are:? (a) Massage (distort) it to fit into OLD CATEGORIES (creates overwhelm and/or boredom) or you can? (b) LettheNewInformation(Chaos)Organize itself (which means lettin~ ~o = RI5K).Figure 111 Handling new information.The question now arises: What other ways are there to deal with new i