Introduction

In this episode we ask can, and should, we set aside our emotions to make decisions in huge, high stakes environments (like trading)? How to channel and listen to your emotions to make even better decisions, learning from negative emotions, how historical echoes in our life create repeated behavior patterns, and much more with Denise Shull.      Denise Shull is a decision coach, performance architect, and founder of the Re-Think Group. She utilizes psychological science to solve the issues of mental mistakes, confidence crises, and slumps in Olympic Athletes and Wall Street Traders. Her Book Market Mind Games has been described as “The Best of It’s Genre” and “The Rosetta Stone of Trading Psychology”. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, The New York Times, and consulted on the SHOWTIME Drama series Billions as one of the inspirations for Maggie Siff’s character - Wendy Rhodes.     We discuss:    How Denise studied the neuroscience of emotions and unconscious thought but ditched her PHD to become a traderCan (and should) we set aside our emotions in a high stakes environment like trading?Why you should consciously incorporate your emotions into your decisions to make the best decisionsFeelings, thoughts, emotions, and physical body are all part of one integrated system and you have to think about it as an integrated continuumYour psyche is trying to get important information to you by turning up the volume of your emotionsWe should focus on finding the valuable kernel of information that our emotions are sending usHow do we learn from negative emotions (such as fear and anxiety)Being able to differentiate between granularity of anxiety helps you process the feelings betterIf you didn’t have some level of anxiety you would never do the preparation necessaryDefine, as clearly as possible, the things you are afraid of, own it, connect head to stomach, and describe it with the word. (your psyche will feel like you got the message through)Once your anxiety and fear feel acknowledged it naturally dissipatesThe vital importance of journaling and being gentle and kind to yourself, to help you understand your emotionsEveryone has all kinds of feelings, everyone doubts themselves on some level, the top performers, hedge fund managers, and olympic athletes  - its part of the human conditionHow can historical echoes create repeated behavioral patterns?The critical period for who we are and how we relate in the world happen very early - as Freud called them “the compulsion to repeat”, and as Denise calls them “echoes” or “fractals”Negative feelings are a mechanism to look and understand the fractals from our past and exploring child hood experiences can help you uncover more about themThe importance of doing the historical work, digging into your childhood, asking yourself “how would I have felt” (so you can get past the filter of “oh that didn’t bother me”)An amazing question you can ask yourself about past events - how would someone else have felt about that? That question helps you break past the self denial that it did hurt you. Repetitions of past mistakes are opportunities to reorganize things you weren't able to deal with in your past Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.