Controlling the Context

Much of your behavior is context dependent. For example, many professional traders know it is quite possible to lose $20,000 in a trade—perhaps paying $1,500 in trade costs in doing so. However, the same traders are much less likely to pay $1,500 to attend a course that could dramatically reshape their trading and help them avoid many such losses. The thinking behind such logic is that the loss is a cost of doing business whereas the course is an unnecessary cost. Notice what happens to the logic if you switch it around and start to think of the course as being essential to doing business well. It becomes much more significant than the losing trades, given that it may save the trader many thousands of dollars in just a single year.

People who practice mindfulness are aware of the context in which they are interpreting events. They are also quite willing to shift contexts to determine the impact upon their behavior and their thinking. As a result, they give themselves more choices and are much more likely to make money.

I will discuss the fifth concept, Putting the Process Before the Outcome, in my next post.