Posts Tagged ‘becoming great’

The Difference: Mediocrity vs. Greatness

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

In Trading, the STATISTICS show that smarts, experience, etc. are not the differentiating factor.
The BEST (most successful guys I know and work with) have winning %’s of less than 50%.. actually, the average is between 45-55% but the point is, basically, winning percentages don’t matter – so they might as well be a random event.

So, what does make a difference?

  • CONVICTION in ideas
  • INTERNAL CONFIDENCE
  • TRUSTING YOURSELF
  • GETTING BIG IN TRADES you believe in
  • LETTING WINNERS RUN
  • CUTTING LOSERS QUICKLY
  • SWITCHING DIRECTIONS QUICKLY

These are many of the factors that allow some people to become monster traders over time. It’s not my opinion, just my observations.

Trade Well,
Dr Doug

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Becoming Great in a Traders Market

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

As you’ve probably heard by now, we are in what is commonly referred to as a “Traders Market.” This type of market is tricky, even for the elite traders out there which is why I want to to give you four tips to help you improve your trading psychology.

1)  Take a Tactical Approach

Once you have established your trading thesis, you are going to want to play close attention to where you get in and get out of the trade. Like a sniper, you have to have laser sharp focus because one mistake will cost you big time.

2) Get in Bigger, Quicker

A “Traders Market” will not allow you the luxury of scaling into your positions. That means becoming great in these markets requires excellent timing. To do this, you have to be patient, wait for your ideal setup and then when it appears, hit it BIG, without hesitation, because that may be the best entry level you get for the trade.

3) Use Tighter Stops

Yes, stops are always important for risk management in any trading environment; but in a Traders Market, tight stops will keep you in the game longer and the traders out there that are making the most out of this market volatility are the ones who are able to survive the quick moves.

4) Let your Intuition show you where the Profits are

Intuition plays a key role in trading success, but really separates the mediocre from the elite in a Traders Market. By focusing on your trading psychology, you can learn how to listen to your intuition, trust it and then execute the trade when that gut feeling pops up.

As the premier trading coach to the Elite on Wall Street, one of the biggest mistakes I see traders make is that they have a great trading idea; a solid trading plan but they lack the confidence to put it into action.

Do Not Be That Guy!

Trade well,

Dr. Doug

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Posted in CNBC Video Blogs, Investment Psychology, Peak Performance, Trading Psychology | 1 Comment »

For Conan (and other elite), Becoming Great Is Not About The Money.

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Just because your severance check is over 30 million, doesn’t mean getting fired is any less painful.

Everyone is talking about Conan and grappling to understand what the big deal is. He has millions, got paid tens of millions to leave AND within months he can basically sign a new contract with a competitor. How bad can life possibly be for him? That’s a problem I would love to have, wouldn’t you?

I’m Dr. Doug Hirschhorn, the premier coach to the Wall Street elite. My clients make tens of millions each year, every year. Unbelievable, I know. No, they don’t break laws. No, they are not shady characters. And as I clearly explain in my new book, 8 Ways to Great (Penguin/G.P. Puntam’s Sons), they are not the ones responsible for the economy falling apart. They are just regular guys who are highly skilled entrepreneurs, faced with great opportunities, just like Conan on TV or like Steve Jobs in the technology world. The mentality of these titans, as I have discovered in my decade of leadership coaching, is remarkably similar, and it does not seem to matter whether they are an athlete, business mogul or media star. Their path to finding that place called great, is identical and can be condensed to six words in a single sentence. And here it is, “IT IS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.”

For Conan, Leno, Steve Jobs, Hedge Fund Titans or even Oprah Winfrey, what motivates them to tap into and unlock their inner greatness are things like ego, passion, inspiration, fear of being mediocre, desire to improve the lives of others, or even low self-esteem that got engrained in them somewhere in their childhood and it has served to push them to prove those doubters from way back when that they were wrong. The bottom line is it is lots of things, just not money.

What does this have to do with you and your career building? Well, instead of being just another person who writes this Conan thing off as a ridiculous example of rich people crying over how big their pile of gold coins is or isn’t; think for a second about how much work and sacrifice Conan had to endure in order to reach his dream of being the top dog in the late night media. Have you ever made tremendous personal and professional sacrifices to have a shot to reach your goals? If you haven’t, then that is a shame; but if you have and my bet is most of you have, then you know exactly how Conan must feel right now.

He worked his entire life to get his shot – and he got it. And then it was taken away from him seven months later. The reason why is less important than the reality that it was. What I mean is, it doesn’t matter if he was fired because his ratings were down or because of politics; all that matters is Conan, just like many of us, had a dream and for decades worked towards achieving it. Then he goes into work one day and is told it’s over, here’s a check, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Is Conan pissed? Of course, he has to be, he is human. Is his ego bruised or maybe shattered? Probably. Does he feel like he was wronged, cheated by people he trusted? Yep. Has he stayed awake at night these past couple of weeks asking pointless questions like, “Why is this happening to me?” I sure bet he has - just like you or I would.

One thing I have learned from my elite clients on Wall Street is that these inflection points create huge potential opportunities for them to create a greater life if they are willing to remove the emotion and take smart risk. And for Conan, it is no different.

Conan has a CHOICE. He can choose to stay bitter, focus on the past, the empty promises, the mud slinging, the anger, emotion and remain stuck in time or he can choose to compartmentalize all of the anger, animosity, fear and doubting and create a new, career building plan for the Conan brand. He is still the same guy. He has the same unique quirky edge and comedic skills. The situation has just changed. Now it is up to him to choose to reinvent himself or not.

For this reason, I believe Conan is no different than any of us out there who thrive on finding our greatness. Stuff that is out of our control happens to all of us at some point in lives. Sometimes it has to do with our employment and other times it may have to do with our relationships. Yes, I know, plans are destroyed, effort is wasted and resources are exhausted but in the end, all that is going to matter for Conan, me, you or any other human being on this planet dealing with this type of situation is what choice we make after unexpected, uncontrollable events occur in our lives.

Conan, feel free to email me if you need a wake up call because I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what choice you make in the face of adversity.

Dr Doug

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Becoming Great

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Everyone likes the idea of becoming great. My elite Wall Street clients who are already great traders, want to increase their greatness factor. As Dr. Doug, I have built up a substantial consulting practice, media presence and just released my second book 8 Ways to Great (Penguin/G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2010) – and I now want to take my brand of finding greatness, to the next level. I am talking about the global level on par with Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Joel Osteen and even Oprah.

What about you? What do you want? Maybe you want to increase your greatness factor as a parent? A spouse? A friend? Or you want to live a greater life by improving your fitness or diet? Or maybe you just want to increase your self awareness and eliminate mistakes so you can stick to your goals?

I have been thinking, struggling, at times, sleepless and tormenting with HOW to crack and leverage the online social network so that Dr Doug – the coach to the Elite – can become a household name synonymous with finding your inner greatness.

My greatest critic and supporter (my wife of 10 years) sees the look in my eyes and reads my body language when we talk about what it is going to take to try to make that career building goal happen. The contacts I have to pursue, the relationships I need to explore, the tremendous effort – all while continuing to grow and maintain my current trading psychology coaching business. Oh, and did I mention, I have three incredible young children whose smiles make me realize what greatness really is?

Yes, I feel lost and scared and insecure – just like you. Yes, sometimes, I say to myself, maybe I should just slow things down and enjoy the NOW rather than pursue this global Dr Doug brand.

The list grows and grows each time we talk about it. And my body language says it all – it says, “Yeah, I want to build that brand and reach that goal of being the coach who helps people find their inner greatness…but am I really willing to do what it takes to make that happen. Because if I was, then the body language would be energized rather than flattened.”

I never doubted (at least not for the past few years) as to whether I could make it happen; but I do find myself wondering if I am really willing to make the personal sacrifices that are necessary to give myself the chance to find my inner greatness. I know first hand the kind of sacrifices that will be required along the way. I see it first hand with my elite wall street clients who I coach to becoming even greater traders. And many of those sacrifices they make along the way they never get a second chance at because time moves on, kids grow up, and seasons change.

Is it worth it Doug? Will it be worth it when you look back 30 years from now? Are you sure this is what you want from your life? And if so, are you willing to do what it is going to take to make it happen?

If you find yourself in a similar place, determining the different between Wanting to do something and if you are really WILLING to do what it will take to make it happen, then here are three things I discuss in 8 Ways to Great that I think you should consider when weighting this decision.

1)   Fear is OK.

Openly talk about your fears either to yourself or to a trusted resource. The more your express and identify your fears, the less of a barrier they become in your life. Remember, fear is normal and ok to feel. All that matter is that you do not make decisions based on that fear. For example, just because you are afraid of all the work that it will take to reach your goal is not the right reason to not go for it. So, identify the fears, greet them with open arms and then put them in a box so they don’t get in your way.

2)   Take a Process Approach

List all the things, that you need to do in order to reach that big goal. Then just pick 3, start there and do not move on until you have completed them; then pick 3 more and so on. By focusing on the process, you break down larger, more intimidating goals into smaller more digestible pieces. At the end of just one week, you will have worked your way through a good number of the items on the list. This will then give you hope and energy to keep moving forward.

3)   Focus more on WHY

Spend some time figuring out why you really want to achieve that goal. Most people only think about how they are going to get there or lose the weigth or find the time. Instead, ask yourself WHY you want to do it and if the WHY is powerful enough to you, then you will find that the HOW takes care of itself and you will be moving from Wanting to achieve a goal to being Willing to do what you need to do to make it happen.

Go ahead and find your way to Great!

Dr Doug

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3 Ways to Avoid Pitfalls on your way to Greatness

Friday, November 20th, 2009

By the way, Hirschhorn has 2 “h’s” in it.” Ok, well, technically it has 3 “h’s.” But who cares? Right?

I know, it is a publicists nightmare. Actually, it is more of a headache and distraction for me, the author, to have to continually check and correct the media.

So, while I am the throws of letting the world know about my forthcoming book, 8 Ways to Great: Peak Performance on the Job and In Your Life (Putnam 2010) here are three of the lessons I learned so far which I believe can help you avoid some of the pitfalls that slowed me down along the way.

Lesson #1: Pick Your Battles
 I have learned (over the past 18 months) that when balancing all the responsibilities involved in sharing your knowledge with the world via a book that you need to focus on what is really important.

Writing a book is so exciting so fun or at least it is supposed to at be. After all, just thinking about all things one has to do to make their dream become a written reality is so, well, energizing?

Things like doing a book proposal, finding an agent, maintaining a positive mental attitude in the face of rejection after rejection from publishers and yet hanging in there long enough to finally find one that believes in it, that believes in you and more importantly your ability to get people to buy the book. So then you sign with a publisher, which means hiring a lawyer to negotiate the wonderfully one-sided contract the publisher gives you.

And then the real fun begins as you get to write the book, edit the book, re-vise the book, do more edits. Then you finally have a book that really expresses yourself and your message. It truly shares with the reader that light that has been shining inside of you for so long. And it is wonderful and cool and awesome. As a man, it is the closest I think I will ever come to giving birth (except that I carried this baby for 18 months). I am so proud so grateful so frightened of the future. And then you realize, no one seems to care just yet about your baby.

Lesson #2: Don’t Take It Personal
 Don’t take it personal. It is just the way the industry (and world) sort of works. People are wrapped up in themselves and in their lives. So now you realize your job is just beginning because it is up to you to get the message out there about your wonderful, spectacular baby that you created for the world to read, learn, grow, share and enjoy forever. So you dig into your pockets to hire a PR firm to promote the book (make sure you hire the right one – don’t worry, I’ll do another blog on my experiences from that process alone). Then you put together a marketing plan and in today’s world of social media, forget about setting up book signings or pounding the streets to get some face time; instead you better have a website, blog (like I am doing right now), tweet, bleet, facebook, dig, youtube, (my apologies if I forget to mention a few?) and so on.

Lesson #3: Remember what is truly important
 All of this takes a tremendous amount of energy, resources and personal sacrifice. I have lived it – and while I am poking fun at it in this blog, I really love the process. Yes, it is exhausting which is why my final lesson is that you really need to always remember what is truly important in your life. For me, it is simple, I have a wife who gets me, believes in me and understands what I am about and three incredible children who want the one thing I don’t have much of (time). Both of these challenge me to examine the question of how important is 2 vs. 3 “H’s?”

How Important Is It?
 You know what? I think instead of spending time and energy correcting media about the number of “H’s,” I think I will track down my kids and tell them how much I love them. Maybe give them a hug and kiss or two or three. Maybe I will just tell my wife, “Thank You. I love You.” Because after all, does it really matter that the media constantly misspells my name which has more “H’s” in it than any other single word in the human language? And if it does matter, then who does it matter to?

The Light Shines IN
 Ah, a moment of self-reflection. A moment of pensive thought. A moment of self-awareness and I come to the conclusion that the only person it may matter to is me. And, you know what? So what? Do I actually think that if there is a quote from “Dr Doug Hirschorn” (that’s the 2 ‘H’ version) rather than “Dr Doug Hirschhorn” (that is the 3 ‘H’ version) that the audience I am painstakingly working so hard to connect with to read my baby, my book may actually think there are two people with this crazy last name?

Hey Dr Doug (this is me talking to myself), you may want to reread Principle # 2 in 8 Ways To Great and get to know yourself a bit better so you can get over yourself and realize this is not about you. It is about your message, your coaching process to help others find their way to Great.

Ah, thank you. Much better now. Just keep your cool (that is Principle #6) and know that all is well. The world is not passing me by. People will be able to find me. My book’s success does not hinge on the correct spelling of my name in the media. And most importantly, my wife and children will still love me no matter what happens with 8 Ways to Great which is why the number of “H’s” just does not matter as there are more important things to focus on right now, like helping my four year old son learn to write and spell.

Just wait until he finds out that he has 3 “H’s” in his name too.

Dr Doug

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