What truly changed everything for me wasn't a particular strategy or metric, but a fundamental shift in perspective—a spiritual turn, a reshaping of my relationship with money.
Written by: Justin Werlein
Compiled by: AididiaoJP, Foresight News
I've been trading for five years. In that time, I've made nearly a million dollars and look forward to crossing that milestone soon. Trading has been one of the toughest journeys of my life so far, and it has taught me so much—about myself, about decision-making, about my relationship with money, about handling pressure, and about how to distance myself from the world.
I'm writing this not to impress anyone, but because I truly wish someone had told me these things when I first started trading. That might have saved me years of torment, prevented me from losing several accounts, and reduced my sleepless nights of self-doubt.
After countless hardships, I finally began to succeed—and the method was exactly the opposite of what I had once thought I should do. This involved multiple levels: trading psychology, strengths-based strategies, and risk management. But to be honest, what truly changed everything for me was not a particular strategy or indicator, but a fundamental shift in perspective. A mental turn, a reshaping of my relationship with money.
Let me explain in detail.
Uniqueness of the transaction
Trading is one of the most misunderstood professions, mainly because it doesn't fit the common definition of "job." People often mistakenly believe that continuous action equals progress. But in trading, the opposite is true. The less you do, the better the results often are.
This single concept is enough to disorient most novice traders. They approach the market like they would any other thing: starting a business, getting fit, or learning a skill—thinking that "doing more" will lead to success. In other fields, effort is visible: the time invested, the number of repetitions, the weight lifted. But trading doesn't follow this logic.
The real challenge lies in the fact that 90% of the "work" in trading is sitting and waiting. Waiting for high-quality trading opportunities to clearly emerge, as if they are saying to you, "Now is the time." This creates a paradox: we instinctively believe that the more we search, the more we will find. But in reality, the more frequently you search, the easier it is to put yourself in a position of failure.
The essence of this industry lies not in accumulating the number of transactions, but in purposefully accumulating high-quality opportunities.
The problem isn't just "overtrading," but more so the mindset that drives people to believe "more trading leads to better results." I know this all too well, because I used to be like that. I thought that by working harder, looking at charts longer, and studying more patterns, I could crack the market's code. But that path simply doesn't work.
The market doesn't care how hard you try.
I often see this scenario: traders staring intently at their screens, tirelessly scanning charts, firmly believing that as long as they work hard enough, the market will eventually reward them. But the more you force yourself to trade, the more likely you are to "see" opportunities where there are none at all. As a result, all the typical mistakes follow: fear of missing out (FOMO), overuse of leverage, chasing market trends that don't fit your strategy... All of this stems from an impulse to "do something," rather than patiently waiting for the market to unfold on its own.
The market doesn't care about your ambition. It doesn't reward hard work, it only rewards the right intentions and patience.
You can spend countless hours analyzing, preparing, and trying to predict every fluctuation. But when the crucial moment arrives, the only thing that matters is whether you are in the right place at the right time with the right mindset. And this cannot be forced. You cannot succeed in the market through brute force. What you can do is learn to identify when to act, and more importantly, when to do nothing.
For me, the transaction begins here, taking on a deeper spiritual meaning.
Money is worldly. When you chase after it, grasp at it, and try to force it to come to you, it will only slip away. It's like trying to hold water in your hands; the tighter you grip, the faster it flows away.
We must understand that to gain true power in life, we need to maintain a certain distance from worldly concerns. If my self-worth is entirely tied to the next profitable trade or the next day I make money, I will be forever trapped in the hamster wheel. I must first realize that I need to step outside the game and operate from a higher level of consciousness.
Viewing trading from a gaming perspective
Becoming a successful trader involves several aspects: psychological factors, having a superior strategy, and rigorous risk management. You do need a statistical advantage in the market. But this is a lesson I learned at a painful cost: even with a perfect strategic advantage, a poorly executed trader can ruin it all.
Therefore, I believe that cultivating the right trading perspective is the most important thing you can do.
You must treat trading like you would a video game.
Imagine a child coming home from school and playing Call of Duty. He sits off-screen, holding the controller, free to make decisions. He observes the character's actions on the screen and reacts, but he is separate from the character—he is the operator, not the soldier charging into battle.
Now let's compare this to another scenario: a person feels like they are truly on a battlefield. Every bullet seems to be aimed at them, and every "death" feels like their end.
For many traders, there is no boundary between their trading and their ego. They *are* their own trading decisions. Every profit or loss becomes part of their identity: when they make money, they feel smart, capable, and valuable; when they lose money, they feel stupid, useless, and a failure.
However, to succeed in this game by leveraging strategic advantages and human skill, you must detach yourself from every rise and fall.
How do we do it?
Beware of the trap of "daily verification"
First, you must understand that becoming a consistently profitable trader takes time. It's not something that happens overnight, not in a week, and for most people, it's not something that can be done in a year.
If you rely on every day or every trade to validate yourself, you'll be trapped forever. You'll make trades you shouldn't, force yourself into trades because you "need to feel like you've done something," and you'll conflate your self-worth with your account's profit and loss (P&L)—a very dangerous situation.
Many traders are trapped in "survival mode": feeling like they're on an endless hamster wheel, making a good decision, then a bad decision, then good, then bad... one step forward, two steps back, and the cycle repeats.
How can someone succeed when their mind is constantly replaying past mistakes and margin calls? They're only thinking about breaking even, proving themselves, or seeking market approval.
I was once deeply affected by it: lying in bed at night, unable to sleep, my mind replaying every bad deal. I carried the weight of each failure, as if that was my defining characteristic. I felt I had to "make the money back" before I could regain my self-worth.
That energy—that desperate, clinging, survival-mode energy—can poison everything. When you trade in this state, your decisions become distorted: you chase trends, engage in revenge trading, and over-leverage when you shouldn't… All mistakes stem from operating in fear, not based on trust.
The power of forgiveness changes everything.
This is why "forgiveness" is crucial in transactions.
I'm not talking about that abstract, empty "feeling good." I'm talking about true forgiveness: forgiving yourself for a blown-up account, forgiving yourself for the stupid mistakes you've made, forgiving yourself for those moments you knowingly committed.
You must let go of all of this, let go of everything.
Enter the market each day as if you're starting with a blank sheet of paper. A brand new day, unaffected by yesterday's trades or profits/losses. If you enter today's trading with yesterday's losses, you've already lost before you even begin. If you enter this month's trading with the shadow of last month's margin call, you're not actually trading, you're trying to heal—and the market never cares about your wounds.
You must be an observer in the trading process. Don't cling to your decisions, but learn from them. Remain detached yet present; stay focused, but don't despair.
Here is a spiritual principle that took me many years to grasp: surrender. You must surrender to the desire to control outcomes, surrender to the obsession with money. You must believe that as long as you consistently do the right thing, the results will come. And you must be able to calmly accept that you don't know when or how they will arrive.
It's hard, really hard. Especially when you're under pressure from bills or want to prove something. But it's the only way out.
Transaction log: An indispensable tool
This is why keeping a trading log is so important.
It allows you to look back and ask yourself: Why did I make that decision in the first place? What did I see at the time? What were I thinking? How did the market react to my ideas?
Keeping a journal helps you create a sense of distance. It allows you to detach yourself from the game and review it like a coach watching a match replay. You are no longer a soldier on the battlefield, but a player holding the controller. You can see the true nature of your decisions—they are merely moves in the game, not extensions of yourself.
A trading log can also help you discover your behavioral patterns. Not chart patterns, but your own behavioral patterns: maybe you always overtrade on Mondays, maybe you always engage in retaliatory trading after losses, maybe you always can't resist adding to your positions before your account is wiped out... You can't change what you can't see, but a trading log can help you see it.
Feelings of scarcity and feeling of abundance: two very different mindsets
This reminds me of a concept that fundamentally changed my trading: understanding the vast difference between operating under a sense of "scarcity" and a sense of "abundance".
- The feeling of scarcity says: I must win this deal. I must make money today. I must prove I'm not a loser.
- Abundance says: The market is always there. Opportunities will always come. My job is to wait for the right opportunity.
When you operate under a sense of scarcity, you're in a low-frequency, tense state. You're desperate and grasping. And the market—as a mirror of collective human behavior—will respond accordingly. You'll make bad decisions and attract bad results.
When you operate with a sense of abundance, you trust, relax, and wait. You understand that money flows toward clarity and discipline, not despair and chaos.
You must align your will with the will of the market. I cannot impose my ideas on the market. I must first react to the signals the market gives. This is not weakness, but wisdom. The market is bigger than me, bigger than all of us. My task is not to conquer it, but to dance with it.
What are you truly pursuing?
When you think back to the times you made mistakes in trading, what were you really chasing? Was it an opportunity that fit your clear framework, or just the "feeling of making money"?
This is the core issue: too many traders enter the market with the subconscious goal of "making money," while the real goal should be "establishing good trading habits." Focus on habits, and money will follow.
There's an even deeper question: What does money really mean to you?
For some, money means security; for others, it means status, freedom, or proof that they are not failures. Whatever it represents, that's what you're truly pursuing when you make a deal. If that pursuit is closely tied to your self-worth, your decisions will inevitably reflect that insecurity.
I had to do a lot of work on my relationship with money. I had to understand that money itself is neither good nor evil; it is neutral, a form of energy. It flows to where it is welcomed and runs away from where it is chased. I had to learn that my personal worth has nothing to do with my account balance. I had to separate "who I am" from "what I own."
Once I achieved this, trading became much easier. Because I was no longer trading to "feel good." I traded because I had a proven strategic advantage, and I was strictly adhering to it.
Key Shift: From Results to Process
You must shift your focus from the goal of "making money in the short term" to the long-term goal of "cultivating rock-solid habits." The wealth these habits will ultimately bring you will far exceed what you can obtain by forcibly trading in the short term.
The key is understanding: success in trading isn't about how much money you make today, but about your discipline in consistently executing your strategy. The trap most traders fall into is linking satisfaction with monetary outcomes. But in this game, money is merely a byproduct. You might make money by chance. If your satisfaction is tied to these accidental results, you're paving the way for your own failure.
True trading success comes from the satisfaction you derive from the trading process itself—from the discipline, patience, and ability to sit still and wait for the right moment amidst market chaos.
The fewer trades you make, the more purposeful each trade becomes. As you begin to reduce your trading, you'll gradually realize that your goal isn't to constantly interact with the market, but to maintain enough patience and clarity to identify and act when the market presents genuine opportunities.
Patience is not passivity.
A lack of patience is the fatal flaw of most traders. The urge to force yourself to act even when there's nothing to do will constantly erode your capital—both financially and mentally.
Patience in trading is not about passively watching market changes. It's about actively choosing not to do anything when no action is needed. It's about being able to stop and analyze when you realize your emotions are trying to take over and your mind is urging you to act impulsively: Does this decision align with my strategic strengths?
When you free yourself from the need to "keep moving," you gain a different kind of power. You no longer try to convince yourself to accept a mediocre trade. Instead, you wait for the market to offer that trading opportunity that perfectly aligns with your strategy, fills you with confidence, and seems to be calling out to you.
These are the transactions that will bring you long-term success.
The final truth
Ultimately, it all boils down to this: stop trading to make money, start trading to cultivate good habits. Stop chasing and start arriving at your destination with ease. Shift your focus from results to the process itself.
Every time you sit down to prepare for a trade, remind yourself of that long-term vision: You're not here to make a quick buck today. You're here to build a trading system that can support you for years, even decades.
Less is more. Fewer transactions mean higher quality. Fewer decisions mean clearer thinking.
The market is always there, but if you keep chasing opportunities that don't exist, your capital won't stay with you forever. Train yourself to value discipline more than dollars. Success isn't about being in the market all the time, but about being in the right trade at the most crucial moments.
When you feel you've put in the least "effort," that's often when your trading is most successful.
Forgive yourself for past mistakes. Start each day with a fresh perspective. Be the player holding the controller, not the soldier on the battlefield. Align your intentions with the market's rhythm. Manage your relationship with money wisely. Understand that you are not your profit or loss.
And remember: you can't force the market to give you what you want. You can only respond to the opportunities it offers. Surrender to the results, trust the process, and let it flow naturally.
This is the game of trading. This is a realization I gained after five years of time and countless hardships.
Now it's your turn to learn—I hope you can learn faster than I can.
