Anchor 1: Renew Your Mind – The Identity You Built Is the Invisible Barrier

Transform Your Trading Identity Series [Anchor 1]

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. -Romans 12:2 (NIV)

Everyone is born into this world completely helpless. We cannot live on our own in those early stages. Dependence on others to care for us is essential. 

In a sense, before we are even aware of ourselves, our bodies are being conformed to this world. Then eventually our minds become conformed to the beliefs and patterns of those who are influencing us—parents, family, teachers, culture, environment. 

We soak it all in without question. That’s how identity begins to form, long before we have any say in it.

At some unknown point in time, we begin to form our own beliefs and patterns to discern and guide our behavior in this world. 

For me, gaining knowledge seemed ingrained early and then strengthened. 

It felt like the path to control, to safety, to being “good enough.” 

I became the person who learns more, studies harder, and masters more. 

This became a part of my identity—quietly, steadily, without me even noticing how central it had become.

Relating this back to trading, I let gaining knowledge take control of my trading. 

I’ve learned so many strategies—indicators, price action, volume profiles, order flow, mean reversion, trend following, you name it. 

I read books, watched videos, backtested setups, journaled every trade, and obsessively reviewed trading sessions. 

I believed that if I just accumulated enough knowledge, consistency would follow. 

More information had to equal better results.

WRONG.

Over the years, I just kept pushing forward because that was what I thought I had to do. 

If you can’t make a basketball in the hoop, try again. 

And again. 

If you can’t solve this math equation, you read. 

You study and try again. 

You learn yourself out. 

You gain the skill by doing more, practicing more, and learning more until it becomes a habit. 

That approach worked in school, in sports, in almost every other area of life. 

It felt reliable. 

It felt righteous.

Now, in trading, all my previous efforts have culminated in a specific identity of who I am. 

I brought this identity to the markets. 

It failed me. 

It was not until I looked inward—really inward—that I finally questioned my own identity. 

I understood what I was, and that was not going to help me cross over to where I needed to be. 

I needed to change.

What Was My Identity?

This is where spirituality and God came back into my life full force. 

There are other instances in my life outside of trading where this was converging, but for now, I’ll stick with the trading realm.

The identity I formed was one dominated by fear of loss. 

When in a trade, even as it started to lose, I hoped it would come back. 

Especially since I had gained knowledge and the strategy “should” work, I had some confidence it would. 

But it failed, and I incurred a larger loss than necessary.

Repeat this more often and with different strategies, yet still end up with the same outcomes.

Over time, my natural tendency shifted slightly and improved—I started taking the predefined stop more often. 

But now whenever there was a gain, I would take it faster than I should have. 

Do this enough times when you lose more than you should, and also win a little bit when you should win more, and you tend to reach certain conclusions.

When you are in a gain and know that if you take it here, you will lock in profit, but also know it will usually keep going up.

You decide to hold it. It should go more, and it doesn’t. 

Then you repeat this cycle on a different dimension. 

You hold your position, hoping for a gain because you had a gain, then it goes red, and you still hold on to hope. 

Then you hope longer, and either you take the loss or are too emotional and just wait to be right, resulting in losing more than you should.

This pattern happened too many times. 

Eventually, I got to a point where winning was slightly more often than losing. 

However, when I needed to scale, the losses wiped out my gains, forcing me to revert to a smaller size.

I made decisions based on my identity.

I traded based on my identity.

I added, learned, and became more efficient in my identity.

Not a more efficient trader.

Learning wasn’t the problem.

My IDENTITY was.

Why It Took Five Years to See This

What happens when your identity is threatened?

You become defensive, wanting to protect yourself at all costs.

This is why it took five years to realize this.

It was not until I resurrected my spirituality that I began to see my identity as the issue.

This goes back to the very beginning.

Why is it that, as a new trader, you seem to have more luck or have traded better when you first started than as the trader you are now?

Back then, you were not reinforcing your decisions with your identity.

You were making a decision in the face of uncertainty, with nothing to go on.

Yes, you lost, but it was uncertain.

But the moment you won, you thought it was cool, or it was bound to happen.

But then you make a paycheck on a single trade, and then it starts to become real.

You didn’t care enough to apply your identity to your decisions before.

But now it is different.

The market is pure opportunity, and you started to see this.

The market is its own thing, self-sustaining.

You have no effect on it.

What do you bring to the market?

You.

Yourself.

Your Identity.

The market truly is a mirror.

The market reflects your identity, or the baggage you bring to it.

If you want to find the perfect trade and happen to win on it, you think you know everything.

Then, at some point, all your perfection is turned on its head, and you realize you are not perfect, you don’t know anything.

You’re emotional, and you either quit or try to put up guards to protect yourself.

Protect your identity.

Right now, I realize I tried to best fit my identity to the market.

I made my identity as best as it could be, but it wasn’t enough to cross the veil or threshold. Everything I tried wasn’t a catalyst.

Identity transformation is the catalyst.

Why is it that a new trader can outperform a seasoned trader in the short term?

A new trader doesn’t have the experience or rules in place.

They did not have time to bring whatever identity they hold to the market.

Because of this, the new trader can make bigger gains by hoping and not letting their Identity rule something that they have no experience with.

Over time, the seasoned trader will make smaller gains but be more consistent and profitable.

However, has the seasoned trader conformed his identity to the market, or has he changed it?

I don’t know.

But I do know it is extremely difficult to change your identity.

There are many barriers to break through to reduce its hold on you.

It is likely that the seasoned trader has applied his identity to the market and, over time, has carved out an edge by living in that space.

Limiting his potential but gaining some sort of benefit or profit over time.

This is why, over the long term, new traders will likely give up or blow up: they never saw the benefit in their experience with identity to make something work. It is a grind to do it this way. It takes time.

This is why, over the long term, seasoned traders succeed: they recognize the value of tethering their experience to their identity and carving out a system that can yield positive outcomes.

The question I have is this:

Does the seasoned trader conform their existing identity to their experience and carve out an edge, or does the seasoned trader realize their formed identity is their limitation?

I really mean limitation, because every successful trader has their own rules and ways they carve out a living in the markets.

One seasoned trader may have consistency with breakouts, another with reversions, and another with moving averages.

The point is that there are thresholds to what a successful trader can carve out.

They draw a line between what they can do and what they should do, based on their Identity and the experience they gained in the market.

What happens when a trader doesn't just conform their Identity to the market, but instead completely changes it?

This Is My Journey. This Is the Value I Bring to You.

I will be changing my identity and anchoring my transformation to the identity God reminds us of in Scripture. 

I need to break free. 

The identity we create for ourselves pales in comparison to what God has given us. 

What will my trading transform into when I make this change? 

This is Anchor #1.

To sum up:

Do not let the identity I formed for myself—fear, greed, and self-reliance—be what drives my actions, especially in trading. 

Renew my mind daily.

Trade from the identity God has given me: a steward of my own mind, and be at peace.

Peace follows when identity is aligned with Him—not myself, not the market.

Disclaimer: This is inspirational and mindset-focused content only, not financial advice. Trading involves significant risk of loss. Always do your own research and consult qualified professionals.

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