ETMA_The Evolution

Thanks B. Salem Abraham's comments to investors are going to get pinned to the notice board. Nice way of seeing things. :-)

Welcome to the Barking Up The Wrong Tree weekly update for January 11th, 2015.

How To Be Motivated: 4 New Insights From Research

(Click here to read the post on the blog.)

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Sometimes there is not enough coffee in universe to get you going. How to be motivated is something we all struggle with at some time or another. Or, um, daily.

Motivation is such a mystery. It's a feeling and we understand it so poorly it feels impossible to do anything about it. Is there anyone who can unravel the science of how motivation works and tell us what to do? Yes.

Dan Pink wrote a the book on motivation. Literally.

He's the New York Times bestselling author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. He's also the host and executive producer of the TV show "Crowd Control." His books have sold more than 2 million copies. And his TED talk on motivation is one of the most popular TED talks ever.

Here’s what I love about Dan: He's not the type to write a book and just move on. He’s still thinking about these ideas and has newinsights into motivation that you can learn from even if you've read his book or seen his talk.

Here's what you'll get from this post:

1. Why you don't feel motivated.
2. What the research says really produces motivation.
3. The single most motivating thing there is and how to have it in your life.
4. The biggest mistake you're making when it comes to motivation.

Let's get to it...

1) This Is Why You Don't Feel Motivated

You're probably thinking too much about the rewards involved. "I want the promotion" or "I want the 'A' on the exam."

You might be enthusiastic about the "carrot" or afraid of the "stick", but you're just not excited about doing the task itself.

Rewards like money are tricky. They are definitely powerful, especially in the short term. Here's Dan:
What's really clear is that "if-then" rewards are really good for simple behavior and short term behavior, definitely. So if you want people to do something really straightforward, like stuffing envelopes or processing papers, and you want good performance during the short term, then rewards work pretty well.

But looking exclusively at rewards doesn't work over longer time horizons or for complex tasks.

We inevitably take the pay raise for granted, and if we're still not excited about the task -- boom -- we're less motivated again.
“If-then” rewards just don't work very well for complex, creative tasks with a long time horizon. It's not like we don't like rewards. We love rewards. They get our attention. But they narrow our field of vision.

We all want money. (Good luck getting people to show up at work if you stop paying them.)

Rewards are essential -- but they're not everything. We all know well-paid lazy people. And we all know people who enthusiastically engage in hobbies (which can look suspiciously like "work" to outsiders) for free.

(For more on how to stop being lazy and get stuff done, click here.)

So rewards just motivate us to get rewards. They don't make uscare about the task at hand.

Which raises the obvious next question: How can you make yourself care?

2) Here Are The 3 Things That Motivate You

Dan's found three things in the research that go a long way toward getting us motivated (assuming we're already paid a fair amount.) Remember "AMP":

1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Purpose

Let's break them down.

Autonomy

Autonomy means we don't like being told what to do. Once we feel we're being pushed around, we check out.

This is why kids might like puzzles but hate homework. They're both problem-solving but only one has people nagging you about it.

Similarly, nobody has ever said, "I love a micromanaging boss." A lack of autonomy kills workplace engagement. Here's Dan:
Autonomy is, “Am I directing my own life, rather than being directed?” Autonomy is simply self direction. Giving people some sovereignty over what they do, when they do it, how they do it, where they do it, who they do it with. To me, it's the secret in the workplace of engagement.

Mastery

Why practice the guitar? Are you getting paid for it? Why try to improve your tennis serve? Are you getting paid for it?

We just naturally like getting better at things. This is why video games have rankings, levels, and points. They say "You're improving" and that feels good. Here's Dan:
Mastery is, “Am I getting better at something that matters? Am I making progress in something meaningful?”

But the workplace can be just awful at this. Candy Crush and Call of Duty immediately tell you if you're getting better. Yet at work you get an annual review. See why one is addictively fun and the other can make every Sunday night so sad?

Purpose

Kids are expensive, time consuming and often difficult to deal with. I suggest you sell yours to the highest bidder immediately.

Are you religious? Patriotic? Loyal to friends and family? Sounds like a lot of obligations. Get rid of all that baggage right now.

Sound crazy? Of course it does. These things provide purpose to our lives and purpose is immensely valuable to all of us. Here's Dan:
Purpose is, “Am I doing something in service of a cause larger than myself, or, at the very least, am I making a contribution in my own world?”

In the time since his book Drive came out Dan has a more refined view of purpose. There are 2 types:

1. Big "P" Purpose is contributing to a grand cause. Supporting a charity, serving your country, saving lives at a hospital, etc.
2. Little "p" purpose is feeling your work makes a difference. "Does my contribution matter?"

Here's Dan:
Since the book has come out I have a more refined view of this too. Capital "P" Purpose, is "I'm working for a non-profit and we are devoted to protecting endangered species." or "I am working as a surgeon and I am saving people's lives. I'm doing something to serve a cause larger than myself." But there's another kind of purpose that I didn't really explore enough, which is what you can think of as purpose with a small p: "Does my piece matter? If I didn't show up today at work, would anybody care and would things be worse? Would I be missed because what I'm doing actually makes a contribution?" I overlooked that in the book.

Again, many workplaces can be a mess here, too. Whether it's saving lives or just making a material contribution at work, we don't often see the results we create.

Wharton professor Adam Grant did an amazing study where he created a huge spike in motivation at a university call center without spending a nickel. His secret?

He showed the employees letters written by grateful students who had received scholarships due to their efforts. They heard the difference their work made in young people's lives. And their motivation soared even higher when the students were brought in and said thanks in person.

Via Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success:
When callers interacted with one scholarship recipient in person, they were even more energized. The average caller doubled in calls per hour and minutes on the phone per week. By working harder the callers reached more alumni, resulting in 144 percent more alumni donating each week. Even more strikingly, revenue quintupled: callers averaged $412 before meeting the scholarship recipient and more than $2000 afterward.

(For more on how you can motivate others, click here.)

So maybe you're a total motivational rockstar and you make sure to find a situation where you have autonomy, mastery and a deep sense of purpose.

Even if you have the three tentpoles, what keeps you going day to day? What gets you through the rough patches?

3) The Most Motivating Thing Of All

Teresa Amabile‘s research at Harvard found that the most motivating thing is progress in meaningful work.

Via The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work:
This pattern is what we call the progress principle: of all the positive events that influence inner work life, the single most powerful is progress in meaningful work; of all the negative events, the single most powerful is the opposite of progress—setbacks in the work.

What's fascinating is that this is so powerful that the mere illusion of progress is enough to get our engines revving. Seriously.

In one study, researchers gave people "Buy 10 coffees and get 1 free" cards. And they gave a different group "Buy 12 coffees and get 1 free" cards but with 2 purchases already marked. So effectively both groups were starting from the same point.

But that's not how the recipients saw it. The "buy 12" group bought coffees a lot faster because they felt they had made more progress toward the goal. Merely thinking you've made progress can get you motivated.

(For more on how happiness leads to success, click here.)

But sometimes it feels like you're just treading water. You may have goals but it's hard to see progress. What do you do then?

4) Forget Big Goals, Focus On Small Wins

Goals are great but big ones are abstract, far away and sometimes hard to relate to. And it can take months or years to achieve something big.

The secret is small wins. Those little achievements you can see day to day. Anything that went well or worked out. Don't take that good presentation or minor achievement for granted. That's progress and paying attention to those can keep you trucking when you're feeling less than motivated. Here's Dan:
Over the last several years of writing about this stuff I have kind of moved away from the whole moonshot, big hairy audacious goal approach, and much more towards the small win approach. What I like about small wins is they can cascade. One can lead right into another. Charles Duhigg has a very, very nice term for it, which I think is important. He calls them "keystone habits." And you knowPeter Sims has written about "little bets."

And the science is with Dan. Teresa Amabile's research at Harvard backs him up.

Via The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work:
People’s inner work lives seemed to lift or drag depending on whether or not their projects moved forward, even by small increments. Small wins often had a surprisingly strong positive effect, and small losses a surprisingly strong negative one.

Olympic swimmers use small wins to make it through months of rigorous training. And Dan even applied "small wins" to how you can best use my weekly emails:
Like when someone reads your weekly email, Eric. Somebody might look at that and say, "Can I do everything on here?" I have to say the answer is no. But that's the wrong question. The real question is, "Can I do one small thing to get better today?" And the answer to that question is always, "Yeah, I'm sure you can."

(For more on the science of how to be resilient, click here.)

Some of you may still be skeptical. Or feel these strategies won't work because of what an exquisitely special snowflake you are.

And maybe you're right. So let's take the biggest step of all and tailor this for you.

5) Ask What’s Meaningful To You

What’s really important to you? Yeah, you.

When we do things that are important to us personally ("intrinsic" motivation), not to get rewards and not to impress others ("extrinsic" motivation), we often become productivity machines, decimating obstacles.

Dan told me about a study at West Point where they compared the performance of intrinsically motivated students ("I want to serve my country.") to extrinsically motivated students ("I want the prestige of being an officer.") and to students who were an intrinsic/extrinsic hybrid.

The students who were intrinsically motivated, who were doing things because of internal reasons, bested the other two groups -- and were the most satisfied. That's happiness and productivity. Here's Dan:
There's a study by Barry Schwartz and Amy Wrzesniewsk about West Point grads. They had three groups of people. You've got those who are motivated intrinsically, you've got those who had a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic, and those who were motivated extrinsically. So extrinsic would be, "I want to rise in the ranks and become an officer because that's a really powerful position and it's prestigious. I want to go to West Point to get a free scholarship." Intrinsic would be, "I want to serve my country. I want to test my abilities." The mix would be, "I want to serve my country and test my abilities, but I also love the prestige of being an officer." What they found is that the purely intrinsic motivated people outperformed the purely extrinsically motivated people. But the purely intrinsically motivated people also outperformed the people who were hybrids.

Ironically, it is often by being true to yourself and not thinking about rewards that you get the rewards and esteem you want. Here's Dan:
So there is this kind of interesting zen-like thing. The route to these rewards is not to be cognitive of the rewards. What was so compelling about this West Point study was that they had a very, very, very large sample. A full decade of West Point graduates that looks at and measures their attitudes going in and then objective measures of what they did afterwards over a very long period of time. That's what is so compelling about it.

(For more on how to stop procrastinating, click here.)

Okay, this is a lot of info. How do we put it to use?

Enough Reading. Time For Doing.

Here's what we learned from Dan:

1. Being too focused on rewards is demotivating in the long term. You need more than just money and other "carrots" to keep yourself going day-in, day-out at a job. Be careful not to pick jobs based solely on money. Research shows it's one of thebiggest career regrets. And don't think that a pay raise or promotion is a long term solution to lack of motivation if you aren't interested in what you're doing.
2. What should you look for in a job if you want to feel motivated? Remember "AMP."

Autonomy: Look for places where you'll have freedom to get things done your way as long as you achieve the boss's objectives. Avoid micromanagers.
Mastery: Where will you learn, improve and grow at something that is meaningful to you?
Purpose: Will you be contributing to a big important cause? Or will you be doing something where you feel your contribution is important?

1. Track your progress. It's the most motivating thing there is and most companies are terrible at doing it for you. Your career is like a video game: keep leveling up.
2. Note your small wins. Tracking only major annual accomplishments is disastrous for happiness and motivation. Even those tiny ways that you move the ball forward should get noted. That's what gives you the energy to keep hacking away.
3. "Intrinsic" motivation rules. Make sure you're doing things that are personally meaningful to you and you'll find you accomplish way more than your peers who are just thinking about the shallow stuff. Ignoring the rewards can be the path to getting them.

Feeling a bit more motivated? I'll leave you with this great quote from Neil DeGrasse Tyson:
The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.

New week, new charts.

Improve Your Life and your Trading by : What 10 Things Should You Do Every Day To Improve Your Life?

1) Get out in nature
2) Exercise
3) Spend time with friends and family
4) Express gratitude
5) Meditate
6) Get enough sleep
7) Challenge yourself
8) Laugh
9) Touch someone
10) Be optimistic

And Don't forget to manage risk in your trading.

Best,
B.R.

CL (Crude Light ) under 45 $.

bassramy, could u paste and share your red / green indicator thats behind the bars? it looks good!
The template you posted yesterday is very clear too! Maybe u could zip it all and share it here

You didn't even bother to read the first post in my thread, did you realise that you didn't either mention the word please in your post, anyway and one more time after 1000, kindly read the first post of my thread to get an answer to your question.

Thank you for visiting my thread.

GROWTH

Via The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ:

Any person lucky enough to have had one great teacher who inspired, advised, critiqued, and had endless faith in her student’s ability will tell you what a difference that person has made in her life. “Most students who become interested in an academic subject do so because they have met a teacher who was able to pique their interest,” write Csikszentmihályi, Rathunde, and Whalen. It is yet another great irony of the giftedness myth: in the final analysis, the true road to success lies not in a person’s molecular structure, but in his developing the most productive attitudes and identifying magnificent external resources.
This is one of those things everyone seems to know but nobody does anything about.
It’s the age of the internet, folks. If you have Google and half an ounce of resourcefulness it’s not that hard to find almost anyone’s email address. If they have a website, their email is probably listed on it.

What do you write? Try Adam’s method or Tim’s method or Ramit’s method.
(More on the power of mentors here.)

Its similar in the business of trading folks, nothing new.

Courtesy of Barking Up The Wrong Tree -- http://www.bakadesuyo.com/

State of the Trend, Some charts for the Day.

ARE U KIDDING ME.

Swiss National Bank discontinues minimum exchange rate, lowers...
EURCHF collapses as SNB gives up on 1.2000
Retail platforms pulling swiss quotes
SNB Unexpectedly Gives Up Cap on Franc, Lowers Deposit Rate

Look @ the spread on these babies.

Thank you SNB.

1. Alpari - Important announcement: entered into insolvency
   From alpari.co.uk
   http://www.forexfactory.com/resource...tory-quote.png
   The recent move on the Swiss franc caused by the Swiss National Bank’s unexpected policy reversal of capping the Swiss franc against the euro has resulted in exceptional volatility and extreme lack of liquidity. This has resulted in the majority of clients sustaining losses which has exceeded their account equity. Where a client cannot cover this loss, it is passed on to us. This has forced Alpari (UK) Limited to confirm today, 16/01/15, that it has entered into insolvency. Retail client funds continue to be segregated in accordance with FCA rules.

May God Rest your soul.

CMC Markets - Important Announcement

FxPro Announcement regarding CHF Movement

FXCM Faces Losses on Franc Trades as Swiss Shock Spreads

Swiss move hits currency brokers

OANDA stands by its clients

ThinkForex – Business as Usual

Business as usual for MahiFX despite Swiss franc movement

Broker FXCM faces 80pc plunge after Swissie turmoil

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Largest US Currency Broker Just Got A $300 Million Lifeline

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fxcm-...#ixzz3P4C3UjVd

Interactive Brokers Lost $120 Million On The Swiss Franc

Foreign-Exchange Brokers Are Going Bankrupt In The Swiss Franc's Surge

The Swiss Franc Smacked Deutsche Bank Hard

The Swiss Franc Move Blew A Big Hole In Citigroup Too

The Breath-Taking Swiss Franc Surge Is Like Seeing Halley's Comet

In The Foreign Exchange Markets, Leverage Can Kill

The Swiss National Bank Lost 60 Billion Francs In Today's Currency Chaos

The Swiss Franc Chaos Shows Why Negative Interest Rates Don't Work

SWATCH CEO: Exchange-Rate Decision Is A 'Tsunami' For Switzerland

THE SWISS FRANC IS OUT OF CONTROL

No Markets Today = No Trading = A lot of Analysis, research and Development (R & D ), enjoy your weekend i know i will enjoy mine after this hell of a trading week.

Best,
B.R.

And one for the road : Wall Street Intern Posts Nude Selfies From Bank's Bathroom, Then Quits Job To Pursue Career In Porn

Oops... Nº 3, 15 is broken.

Hi Bass!


It's been a looong time. How are you doing?? From the looks of it, it seem you are just fine. Family, business doing ok?


BR

Hey, my dear old friend, i'm doing more than fine, all is good, forex included and the SNB decision also included, hope that everything is good @ your end .

Best,
B.R.

How To Be Compassionate: 3 Research-Backed Steps To A Happier Life


Science points to a crazy number of benefits from being more compassionate:

1. Increased happiness and self-esteem.
2. Reduced procrastination.
3. Greater purpose in life, social support and less illness.
4. Reduced stress.
5. Better romantic relationships.
6. Increased creativity.

Not too shabby.
Which raises a good question: if it does all this great stuff, why the heck aren’t we more compassionate?

Gold today.

Hey Bass,

How can it be that you are using Alpari on that chart?

Secret of the trade, just kidding, the feed is not Alpari but the platform is, i use different brokers feed on the same platform, each broker have a different profile and different symbols set .

Anyway, its good to mention that only Alpari U.K is in insolvency and not other Alpari entities .

Best,
B.R.

Hi.


Trading fairly good (as much as time permits), family great, job sucks. Same old, same old.

Didn't find the courage though yet to rely on trading only. For social and safety reasons I want to have some sort of business besides trading.
I might be over complicating this decisions, but ... better safe than sorry.

Since I'm intraday and mostly on indices, Swiss decision didn't tackle me. As soon as I've seen crazy PA, I closed it all and waited for things to settle. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks?


BR

haha yes, i know alpari is insolvency, thats why i was curious to know why you still had alpari qoutes. but thanks for the reply.

have a nice day

Opportunity cost my Friend, its very simple if you are making between 50 - 70K per year in your current job, don't you ever quit and go all in Forex just trade the long term part time account to grow it more than 100K and even then stick to your Job and don't trade The Markets full time, why you ask, Read this to see why and How to do it " Why managing your own money is a bad trade ".

Unless you work in an Investment Firm, Hedge Fund or a Bank and have a paycheck every Month and a Year End Bonus = Security, you better stick to your Job and Trade the Daily or weekly chart for your own capital appreciation, this is the reality plain and Simple, you can't make a living long term wise from 200 - 20000 $ Account its simply not possible while keeping your risk to a minimum and as you know with bigger risk come " you know what = Blowups, just look @ what happened last week with the Swissy = High Leverage = High Risk = Blowups, Brokers + Traders ", this myth of trading for a living with less than 50K Account is simply a Myth and a Marketing tool used by scammers to attract newbies, nothing more nothing less.

The way to trade profitably + constantly = Low Leverage + Diversification + Small lots and this kind of trading occasionally yield 100 % Yearly but the average if you're a good Trader will always be between 40 - 60 % Yearly = ~ 30000$ per Year on a 50K $ Account = Low income in the Modern economies.

Being there done that after 13 Years in the Markets.

Best,
B.R.