DislikedJust a thought. I was in the gym and something struck me. It's a bit of a story but bear with it. ...Ignored
For I too am a weightlifter and have been long enough to have varied the weight, reps, sets, different angles to engage more muscle, mega-protein diets, et cetera... Yet there's one particular form of weightlifting and the only version that I'm aware, which engages each type of muscle fiber in one contraction, rep or set in this case. It's called Static Contraction.
In very general terms, it engages each of the four primary types of skeletal muscles that are utilized in any movement/workout: slow/moderately fast/fast/very fast "twitch" muscle fibers. (Sorry no physiology lesson today; if you don't know what I'm talking about, try wikipedia.)
The gains are phenomenal, long-lasting and there's no dreaded plateau; each work-out lasting no longer than 10-15 minutes at one-to-two-week intervals per workout. (Most body-builders scoff at the thought!) It's a very scientific approach that's actually simple in practice and it works. And, if done correctly, really takes that much recovery time. (The building of muscle mostly occurs in between workouts.)
So to the analogy, a Static Contraction workout is like the trades one makes in a session or workweek after doing their research and having a clearly defined trading plan in place. Thus the market becomes the gym in this analogy as well. While the gains in between the workouts are a result of practice, practice, practice! In this case, a considerable amount of screen time and loads of simulator trades, or super-light position sizes on live trades. Not to mention knowing your niche, what TF, pair, market really fits your style... The list goes on.
The actual execution and trade management is the end result as it's measured to all the training you've undergone prior to and in fact, indicate your level of performance in no uncertain terms - namely your account's balance! So if the task at hand is too much a challenge, the anxiety and frustration are the result. If it's too easy, then boredom and frustration are the result. Either way, frustration can and should be a key indicator to your flow or being-in-the-zone of optimal balance between challenge and ability level.
A proper match-up, as it should be in weight-training or else you could seriously injure yourself like you said. Just like your live trading account could get seriously depleted to the point it immobilizes the ability to even cover the costs of trading, let alone profit. (Good to know one's limits indeed!)
Thanks again for the timely analogy Arfer...