We are seeing some CRAZY tough times right now…..

London and the UK as a whole is still reeling in the wake of some of the largest unrest that has country has seen in many decades. The Stock Market has absolutely no sense of itself as the powers that be make decisions that will effect the rest of the world as a consequence.

People are seeing huge percentages being wiped off their pension funds over night. Banks are not lending money to small businesses at a time when we are supposed to be building a new economy. This really is a pessimest’s dream come true…. a chance to say “I told you so…!”

But perhaps we can agree that life never closes a door without at least opening a window?

Even in tough times like this, there is ALWAYS opportunity. There is always a chance to make good things happen, we just have to approach them in a slightly different manner. Money IS still being lent (at zero % interest too in some cases) if you know where to look.

Companies and consumers are still purchasing goods and services except possibly in a slightly different way. There is still opportunity for someone who is willing to learn and do everything it takes to be successful with what they are doing.

These tough times though, they can be a blessing…

I was recently speaking with a business coaching client who has been going through some real tough times over the last few months but he has endured the pain period of his business, made it all the way through his challenges and adversity and now is REALLY starting to see the fruits of his labour.

He is starting to get some big business through and achieving all that he deserves. You can see it on his face. You can hear it in his voice… He is really starting to actually see the results that he just had to rely on blind faith to believe in a few months ago.

It’s great to see him earning the benefits of his labours. We were discussing this a few days back and he said to me “You know Paul, things are going great now and we are starting to get some good cash flow coming in. I can now afford to take my missus out to nice restaurants and treat her to nice things… I can start to live a little now..” He then went on to say something quite profound….

He said “Whilst these are some good times for my business now, I will NEVER forget the bad times. Those tough times were pretty cruel and now as the money is rolling in, I could easily get crazy and just go out and splash the cash….! But if I remember those times, they will keep my feet on the ground and my head out of the clouds.”

I had to agree with him. His analysis was pretty “bang on”.

Then turning my thought process back to some of our Stock Market trading clients, this became an even more powerful statement. You see the thing with trading is that so much of it is about probabilities and always wanting to get the probabilities in your favour.

Everyone knows to “trade WITH the trend”, “Select at least a 3:1 Reward / Risk ratio” and to “Hedge our portfolio’s”. Even with all of these precautions taken, you are still going to have wins and you you are still going to have losses – but interestingly enough, the wins and losses tend to come in batches. Very seldom is it that you get win, loss, win, loss, win, loss as one might expect. It more batches of wins and batches of losses.

The challenge really comes when a trader has to keep their focus and faith in the trading strategy after taking 4 or 5 losses in a row, which can happen. More importantly though, the trader also needs to be able to keep their heads when they are having 4 or 5 big winners too.

Having 4 or 5 big winners as your first few trades can be VERY dangerous as young traders can contract what we call “The Midas Mindset” and believe that they can’t lose…. The rest becomes history.

When you are going through tough times, always remember that they can’t be tough times for ever. Good times follow bad times like day follows night.