Questions are so important in trading. What is even more important is the RIGHT question.
Instead of asking, "Why is trading so hard?!?!" you should ask yourself, "What have I learned and what steps can I do to get better."
When I first began trading I made money... I also had losses. Sometimes, I had a loss even though I followed the rules completely. When this happened, I had to build a new rule. Instead of asking, "How did this happen???" I would ask, "How can I learn from this - what new rule could I add to prevent this from happening again?"
This question helped save me hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. If I never had those losses, I never would have those new rules.
If you are feeling emotions, ask yourself why you are feeling this way. The thing is, these emotions are here to serve you; you just need to understand if what you are feeling is overblown or if it makes sense. The fastest way to understand this is by asking questions - the right ones.
Example time: Say you are in a trade and lose $500 for the day. You may begin smashing your keyboard and cursing in 3 different languages. Most traders have so much anger built up that they "revenge trade." They look for the next possible trade that is out there... good or bad. This inevitably leads to more money lost. If after you are done cursing (in all 3 languages), you take out your journal and ask, "what mistakes did I make to have this happen?" or "what new rule can I add that will reduce this from happening again?" you will calm yourself down, and add value to the money lost.
Your "cost of education" is important and always ongoing - it is your perception of this cost that may need to change.
Take the time to ask the right questions, and you will always get a much stronger, more impactful answers.
Take the time to journal your daily feelings and your daily trades. It doesn't matter if they are good or bad - take the time to write down what is going on with you, and your overall growth will soar. Along with this, keep a record of and add daily questions, and you will begin to double and triple your mental growth and conditioning. Once this happens, your road to emotional mastery will become a lot smoother!
Mark Asher