Train your mind first, then train your moves.

No matter what analysis tools and chart curves you use, at the end of the day they’re just your support. What truly affects the outcome is those little thoughts in your heart.

Many people, the moment they enter the market, can’t help but start guessing: Is this the top? Is that the bottom? Should I hold on a bit longer? If I resist a little more, maybe it’ll come back? First, you’ve already taken a stance in your mind, and then when you look at everything, you feel it must be reversed. So what happens? You don’t take what you should have taken, and you stubbornly hold on to what you should have left—you can’t bring yourself to let go.

Then there’s another kind of person: when prices rise, they get an itch; when prices fall, their hands itch. They’re always afraid of missing out. Chasing this today, switching to that tomorrow—going back and forth. In the end, their wallet gets flatter and flatter, and it’s all for nothing.

Actually, trading is more like a kind of self-cultivation. If you want to go far, you need to learn the nature of water—water has no fixed form. Where it’s lower, that’s where it flows; go with the trend, and keep flowing endlessly.

Don’t keep thinking about whether your last trade was a gain or a loss. If you gained, that’s in the past; if you lost, don’t let it get you worked up. And don’t keep fantasizing about buying at the lowest and selling at the highest—perfect timing like that is very hard to achieve.

Empty your mind. Treat ups and downs as normal fluctuations. Without emotions, whatever signals the market gives, you just take the actions you need to take. Once a trend plays out, if you can catch the middle part, that’s already pretty good.

Remember:

When your mind is in chaos, even the strongest techniques are useless; when your mind is steady, even simple methods can land a knockout. Get yourself sorted first, then work on those skills. That’s the real way to keep going for the long term.