I have not yet encountered a person interested in trading who didn't resist the notion of creating a set of rules. The resistance isn't always overt. Quite the contrary, it's usually very subtle. We agree on the one hand that rules make sense, but we really have no intention of doing whatever is being suggested. This resistance can be intense, and it has a logical source.

Most of the structure in our minds was given to us as a result of our social upbringing and based on choices made by other people. In other words, it was instilled in our minds, but did not originate in our minds. This is a very important distinction. In the process of instilling structure, many of our natural impulses to move, express, and learn about the nature of our existence through our own direct experience were denied. Many of these denied impulses were never reconciled and still exist inside of us as frustration, anger, disappointment, guilt, or even hatred. The accumulation of these negative feelings acts as a force inside our mental environment causing us to resist anything that denies us the freedom to do and be whatever we want, when we want.

In other words, the very reason we are attracted to trading in the first place-the unlimited freedom of creative expression-is the same reason we feel a natural resistance to creating the kinds of rules and boundaries that can appropriately guide our behavior. It's as if we have found a Utopia in which there is complete freedom, and then someone taps us on the shoulder and says, "Hey, you have to create rules, and not only that, you also have to have the discipline to abide by them."

The need for rules may make perfect sense, but it can be difficult to generate the motivation to create these rules when we've been trying to break free of them most of our lives. It usually takes a great deal of pain and suffering to break down the source of our resistance to establishing and abiding by a trading regime that is organized, consistent, and reflects prudent money-management guidelines. Now, I'm not implying that you have to reconcile all of your past frustrations and disappointments to become a successful trader, because that's not the case. And you certainly don't have to suffer. I've worked with many traders who have achieved their objectives of consistency and haven't done anything to reconcile their backlog of denied impulses. However, I am implying that you can't take for granted how much effort and focus you may have to put into building the kind of mental structure that compensates for the negative effect denied impulses can have on your ability to establish the skills that will assure your success as a trader.