I had one of the members I am mentoring send me a note to let me know that she met a new monkey as she was completing the sample set on a trade methodology she is evaluating. The messages she was getting from this monkey were “this isn’t going to work” and “the numbers look too good to be true”. I knew she was growing as a trader when she commented “I am working hard on my trade plan and I don’t appreciate the negativity”.
This monkey that showed up is a common one, one with a role to protect us and to keep us from getting hurt. Most of the time we’ll experience our Protection Monkey when we are on the edge of breaking into new territory, whether it’s a job promotion, a new relationship or the next level of success in our trading. As we start to get a glimpse of what is possible in the next step of our success, this monkey awakens and starts to flash a warning sign, singularly focused on making sure we know that there is a possibility that we might fail and that might hurt.
Our Protection Monkey has no idea that by holding us back in order to protect us from potential failure and the pain that can cause, we are also being kept from moving towards our next level of our success. It is up to us to hear the warning messages, assess what it is that has awakened our Protection Monkey and provide reassurance that in this instance we understand the risk and we are managing it.
I have come to really appreciate this monkey. When he shows for me up it tells me that I am on the edge of stepping up to my next level of success. I now thank him for his concern, let him know how much I appreciate that he is there looking out for me and that everything is going to be just fine. I have found that when I tried to ignore him, he would become more diligent at trying to protect me from that big failure and most of the time this came in the form of sabotaging my success.
Start noticing when you hear the warnings that things aren’t going to work, or that you might look foolish if you try that. Listen to see if your Protection Monkey is flashing a warning sign that just might be a sign you are on the edge of your next step of success … your trading will thank you.
