Methods To Help With Impatience
Updated: Nov 1
In today’s newsletter, I wanted to cover a question that often pops up from traders and it’s how to be more patient in trading.
First, let’s start with why you become impatient.
Reasons for impatience?
- It’s important to you
- You are attaching too much meaning
- You see others having success.
- Lack of results in the short term
- Everything around you is fast-paced e.g. Social media etc
These are common reasons for impatience in trading, a lot of it all stems from short-term thinking and instant gratification.
When you are becoming impatient it’s because you are wanting to shortcut your efforts. But this is a recipe for disaster.
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” ― Aristotle
You must be willing to go through short-term discomfort to reap the rewards further down the line.
But it’s not always that easy I know, and it’s become harder to acquire as we grow and evolve due to all of the technological advances and all of the fast-paced and instant results we are becoming more and more accustomed to.
As technology has evolved and the speed at which we process information in an instant the act of patience is becoming less and less these days.
You can see the attention span has dropped over the years from simply looking at YouTube now doing ‘shorts’ and now the introduction of Tik Tok with even shorter videos.
It’s becoming more and more apparent that people's patience is lessening
But all is not lost, what you must understand is that patience is not an innate characteristic, you can still ‘learn’ to become more patient, and just like any new skill it just takes time to perfect.
So what you must do first is to allow yourself to be a beginner and accept that this is something you must work on. With that in mind let’s move on.
Next, I will show you some exercises you can use to help create more patience.
Journal - (Be mindful of your thoughts and emotions)
The first step is to create awareness of when you are most impatient.
Make a list of all the moments that are causing you to become impatient.
If you're having trouble identifying your triggers, stop and think about the last time you felt this way.
What caused it?
Why were you feeling this way?
Try to identify the root cause.
Many of us have "triggers" for impatience these are important to track to gain awareness of when these moments happen.
By being able to identify the triggers we can then begin to dissect and understand why we are reacting in a certain way.
From identifying and understanding you then gain the power to recognize in the moment and thus be able to use the following methods to create the patience and corrective actions needed.
Practice Patience – Wait and Delay
A real-life exercise you can use right now is simply to practice patience.
Just like a muscle the more you use it the stronger it will become with time.
Simply find moments in your day-to-day life and force yourself to be patient.
It could be as simple as just delaying eating your food for just a few minutes extra just to prove to yourself you are patient and help build that patience muscle.
Other examples can be moments of frustration, for example when you’re in a traffic jam or in a cue when you start becoming frustrated bring your focus back to being patient.
Take deep breaths and focus.
With time you will naturally create an auto mechanism. Every time you practice and gain evidence of being patient you will start to build your self-image as someone who ‘is’ patient.
And this will spill over into everything you do especially trading
Relax and take deep breaths
Simple breathwork when feeling impatient is a superpower when you start to feel your heart racing and thoughts speeding around your mind just stop and begin taking take deep breaths.
Learn to focus on the breath coming in and out of your nose or mouth. When you can learn to slow down your body and you can then bring yourself back to your logical self to the forefront and then begin to think from a logical state to be patient.
Another exercise you can use is the ‘’Power of the pause’’ technique I explained in a previous article which works brilliantly for this.
Learn to distract yourself
Distraction is also a powerful tool when you begin to get impatient.
This can be as simple as doing a little task you have been putting off.
Or another great trick you can use is to simply direct your focus to an object and start explaining it in detail to yourself.
For example, maybe there is a cup in front of you. Start describing what you see. Colours, shapes, what it does, etc.
Explain in as much detail as possible and remove the focus of whatever you’re obsessing about to the object instead.
This is a great way to distract yourself and redirect your focus from the thing that is making you impatient.
Look at your trading
Lastly, I want you to look at your actual trading, is there something specific that is making the emotions more intense? Have you too much risk?
When you do it heightens emotions and creates impatience or maybe you have too little on and that is why you are getting impatient because you don’t have enough capital.
Maybe it’s the timeframe you are trading, if you’re trading the daily/weekly but it doesn’t fit your personality maybe you’d be better going to a lower timeframe like the 1hr or 15m for example.
Understanding and fitting your strategy to be compatible with you is important.
Little tweaks to your system to fit your personality can make a big difference.
So maybe take a look at that also.
Final thoughts
Patience is a skill and will take time to learn. And just like any skill the more you practice the stronger and better you become, and it is no different with patience.
Using these techniques will help greatly in helping with that. If you would like to learn more like this consider grabbing my eBook ‘The Blueprint To Trading Psychology.’’ Where I have other methods and techniques.
Quick answers
Why am I so impatient when trading?
Usually it comes from short-term thinking and wanting instant results. Trading matters to you, you might be attaching too much meaning to it, seeing others do well or not getting results quickly, and everything around us is fast-paced too.
Can you learn to be more patient in trading?
Yes. Patience isn't something you're born with or without, it's a skill. Like a muscle, the more you practise it the stronger it gets, so allow yourself to be a beginner at it.
What can I do in the moment when I feel impatient?
Stop and take slow, deep breaths, focusing on the breath coming in and out. That helps bring your logical side back to the front. You can also distract yourself by describing an object in front of you in detail, or doing a small task you've been putting off.
Could my trading setup be making me impatient?
It could. Too much risk heightens your emotions, and a timeframe that doesn't suit your personality can make waiting feel much harder. Small tweaks so your system fits you can make a big difference.
Hope you enjoyed today's article. Let me know in the comments if you did!
Take care,
Alan Edward aka The Divergent Trader
Want more like this?
I send one short email a week on the mental side of trading and keeping it simple. No hype and no signals. Join the free newsletter here.
Two more ways I can help, whenever you're ready:
Watch the free video on how I trade in about 10 minutes a day with simple, rule-based swing trades on the daily chart.
Read The Blueprint To Trading Psychology, my short book on why you break your own rules and how to stop.
About Alan
Alan Edward (The Divergent Trader) is a full-time trader. It took him about five years to get consistent, and he now teaches a simple, low-screen-time way to trade, plus the mental side that goes with it.
Trading carries a high level of risk and you can lose money. This post is for education only and is not financial advice.
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