Interview with Rande Howell - Better System Trader

Rande Howell has more than 15 years of practice as a licensed therapist with a Masters in Counselling. In addition to this, he has worked for many years as a personal development coach teaching individuals how to affect positive change, peak performance, personal growth, and leadership potential.

He has worked with countless traders, helping them to improve their trading by regulating emotions and breaking out of life-limiting patterns, which is really important in trading success.

Rande is the author of three books and maintains both a counselling and personal development practice.

In this episode Rande discusses the most common issues limiting trader performance, the impact of emotions, the importance of managing process not outcome and tips on changing our physiology to improve performance.

‘Outcome cannot be controlled, focus on the process’ – Rande Howell

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Topics discussed

The most common issues impacting trader performance
What causes hesitation when taking trades
How to calm the emotions when trading
An easy way to monitor changes in emotions
The impact of breathing on emotions and trading
A simple trick to disrupt fear
Patience and boredom in trading and how to overcome them
Are you an African Lion or an American Cougar?
Personal traits that don’t align well with trading success
How successful traders handle drawdowns
The stage in a traders journey where performance coaching provides the most value
What successful traders need to watch out for to continue operating at their peak
How overconfidence and euphoria can destroy your trading
Tips for getting prepared for the trading session

Resources mentioned in this episode

To learn more about Rande and his work, checkout his website Traders State Of Mind
Books:
- Mindful Trading: Mastering your emotions and the inner game – Rande Howell
- FREE EBOOK: Developing the Mind for Trading – Rande Howell
Additional Resources:
- Video: Building the Disciplined Mind for Risk and Uncertainty

Quotes

Wait for the market to show you what it’s willing to give you, don’t force it

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There is no external holy grail… you are the problem AND the solution

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You could do everything right and still be wrong, it’s all about probability

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The mind you crafted before you got into trading is not effective in trading

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Top tips from this episode

Emotions are biological, not psychological – if you monitor your body as you’re trading you will notice little clues, like the rapid tapping of your foot, jaw clenching, rapid breathing etc which could mean your mindset if entering into a stage where you’re not thinking clearly. Rande’s tip was to be observant of the signals your body is telling you before they impact your trading, and another one was ‘proper breathing will disrupt the ability for fear to maintain itself’
Focus on process, not outcome – I really liked the story of the hurdler who was asked what he was thinking when he realised he was going to win the race. His response was 1234,1234, which shows his focus was purely on the process rather than the outcome. This is also how a trader should approach trading because the only thing we can control is the process, we cannot control the outcome.