by Davide Renna | Oct 26, 2023 | Mindset
Anyone who has ever attended any American-based course has undoubtedly noticed that their work is always based on this system of beliefs. Unfortunately, often, it is incorrect and limiting.
I wrote this article some time ago. Finding myself back in American soil, precisely in New York, just as the second half of the trading season. I believe it’s the perfect moment to share these insights.
In the United States, these are often referred to as “beliefs”: deep-seated convictions formed by education, culture or religious background. I’ve personally tested in many areas, from entrepreneurship to nutrition.
For example, having limiting beliefs often sends us off course, restricting the scope of possible outcomes.
The encouraging news, discovered along the way by experimenting and learning new concepts, is that any limiting belief is simply incorrect information stored in our cognitive ‘hard drive.’ It can be entirely deleted and replaced with more accurate and, most importantly, enhanced data.
This is precisely what happened in the world of Sports Trading.
If, when I started 20 years ago, I had been able to change my deeply rooted, limiting beliefs, I would have certainly escalated my professional journey faster.
Passion or profession?
At the beginning of my journey, I didn’t believe I could turn my passion into a profession.
First of all, there were no points of comparison, no examples that made me realize, “he’s made it. So I can do it!”
Even today, it’s partly true because Sports Trading is still very unregulated, both legislatively and in terms of content. Finding valid examples to support your beliefs is still very difficult, and if it’s difficult now, 20 years ago, it was absolutely impossible.
For early adopters like myself, it required substantial effort and self-critical analysis in order to navigate through the prevailing skepticism and find the right path. However, the idea that success in any field is only possible if there are other success stories is a limiting belief that fortunately did not affect me.
Another strong limiting belief was the perceptual connection of this sector with the world of sports betting and inevitably with the related pathological deviations and connected moralistic and puritanical dictates, based on the ideological and religious matrix of distrust.
Today, my conditions have radically evolved. Thanks to the results I’ve achieved, my exposure to international landscapes, and a world that is finally changing even in terms of communication and public perception.
My core beliefs in the world of Sport Trading?
Over time, I have developed solid beliefs that have determined my success.
- First and foremost, Sports Trading is unequivocally a profession, comparable to other established career paths.
- The mindset required for a Sports Trader extends beyond mere entertainment. It involves substantial personal growth in areas like decision-making and capital management strategies.
- It’s a profession for a few but not just a handful.
- It’s a risky profession, but no less than any entrepreneurial activity (speaking from direct experience).
- It’s a beautiful profession because it allows me to travel the world.
- It’s a profession with significant room for personal growth and economic scalability.
- It’s a profession that helps improve various aspects not strictly of a technical nature (mental resilience, nutrition, decision-making processes, and financial management), predisposing to excellence in other professions as well.
- It’s a context that will explode in the next 10 years and perhaps finally enjoy the legitimacy and recognition it deserves.
Even deeper and particularly useful was the work on beliefs related to myself, for example, how I view myself and my ability to achieve the results and goals I have set. It’s no coincidence that “I always achieve my goals!”. It is a belief I wrote a long time ago in my perfectly reset hard drive.
If you are contemplating embarking on a new journey, my advice would be to start by identifying your limiting beliefs and replacing them with empowering ones. Trust me, you will be grateful you did!
Just start with any Mindvalley course, and you’re good to go!
The effect will be marvelous!
Davide Renna is an Entrepreneur and Sport Trading Expert, dedicated to driving financial growth and innovation.
by Davide Renna | Oct 19, 2023 | Growth
Loss aversion is the type of fear that most significantly influences the daily decisions of a Sports Trader.
This phenomenon has been known for a long time, theorized in 1979 by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, a psychology professor at Stanford.
In an article titled “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk,” it is explained how the impact of a loss has a greater emotional weight on the player compared to the emotion of a win.
This feeling is quite common for those who, for their profession, make a multitude of decisions: an error or a wrong decision weigh much more than a correct one.
We live in a society that instills a fear of making mistakes and condemns errors, causing an excess of frustration, guiltiness, and shame in those who make a mistake. Making mistakes is often perceived as “failing,” which is why error is often condemned, primarily by the one committing it.
Fortunately, the American mindset, rather than the European one, guided my learning journey and personal growth.I encountered a significant difference in methodology and culture regarding how errors are approached: across the Atlantic, learning happens through “trial and error,” and error is not only not discriminated against but is considered necessary for learning and achieving the goal.
In my journey towards professionalism, I had to grapple with this valuable lesson and build an entirely new relationship with errors and the inevitable losses that follow.
Learning from mistakes
Conventional wisdom imparts its lessons, but adapting is not always easy.
After several years of professionalism, I would specify that it’s only when you stop being afraid of losing that you truly start to win.
So, how did I confront loss aversion?
Following Igor Sibaldi advises: by becoming greater than fear through knowledge. Firstly, I began by distinguishing two types of errors:
- Those caused by me (wrong evaluation / technical error)
- Those not directly attributable to me (linked to the concept of variance)
To tackle errors related to the first category, attributable to my erroneous evaluation or a wrong technical move, I worked on three different aspects: a rational approach, a psychological approach, and a practical approach.
Rational approach: error analysis
In 2011, I began documenting every single move I made in a database, integrating it with last year with qualitative and quantitative descriptions. This way, I can identify the most common technical errors, categorize them, identify patterns, and find targeted strategies to limit them.
The percentage of technical errors out of 100 moves has significantly decreased through a rational effort to codify it.
For instance, I discovered that a specific category of repetitive errors was due to movements executed too close to the beginning of the event.
I managed to reduce this category of errors considerably (which I call “Last Minute Error”) by programming a morning routine that led me to choose daily movements in a portion of the day much farther from the event’s start (usually in the evening). This way, I give my intuition and mind time to weigh the choices with more appropriate timing.
Psychological approach: my inner judge
I attempted to weaken the power of my harsh inner judge. I have always been torn between rationality and the natural tendency to be an unforgiving judge of myself.
Rationally, I know that making mistakes is part of the process, but I also want to be perfect and infallible.
In my case, the blame for my attitude lies with my inner judge, that little voice inside me that scrutinizes, analyzes, evaluates, decides the objective, and imposes reaching it.
Sometimes raising the bar stimulates progress, but setting it too high can become counterproductive. It’s a matter of balance.
I’ve always wanted to win: to be the top of the class, in sports or in any competition, even a playful one with friends.
But over time, I’ve understood that no one forces us to be perfect, except something inside us that we must deal with.
No one is perfect, I’m not, and I don’t want to be. I make mistakes, sometimes many but I have a great quality: when I make a mistake, I learn.
Once I established this very clear and decisively with my inner judge, my relationship with it immediately changed, with loss, and consequently, my performance improved.
Being aware that I can’t be perfect makes me calm, and this calmness ignites intuitive faculties that fade under pressure.
Practical approach: no play
I implemented a simple rule that reminds me not to underestimate any move, even if it’s economically insignificant.
Until some time ago, occasionally I allowed myself some small movements, which I called “relaxing.” In practice, during long periods loaded with tension or particularly dense in activity, I liked to make some movements with symbolic economic value for the sake of enjoyment.
In essence, I played occasionally. A little, but I played.
Economically, everything was sound; the fluctuations were trivial against my money management policies, yet psychologically, something was amiss.
The right side of our brain, the part that experiences emotions, is not rational and doesn’t distinguish between economically insignificant movements and significant ones.
Losing is losing, and making a mistake is making a mistake.
When I understood this simple dynamic, I decided to preserve the psychological balance related to professional movements by “relaxing” outside of work, with a walk, a swim, or any other activity unrelated to Sports Trading.
In conclusion, to perform at your best as a Sports Trader, accepting and managing the possibility of error is crucial. It benefits decision-making processes and the approach to the profession.
Once you’ve learned how to do this, you can translate this ability into your private life as well. A significant benefit.
Davide Renna is an Entrepreneur and Sport Trading Expert, dedicated to driving financial growth and innovation.
by Davide Renna | Oct 5, 2023 | Sport Trading
Being a Sports Trader, sometimes, has been challenging for me.
The risks, the pressures, the solitude, the mistakes, the learning process… all stimulating yet demanding.
Nevertheless, it’s a profession I’ve chosen with full awareness, and through which I have achieved significant goals, such as personal freedom and financial well-being.
Moreover, Sports Trading is also an activity that connects me daily to a great passion, the true driving force behind my long journey.
The origin of my journey to become a Sports Trader
It all began when I was 5 years old, in a very simple way, close to home.
It was a late September afternoon, already dark. I remember a long run, the ball at my foot, a soccer field that seemed endless, a shot on goal, and, slowly, the goal.
Probably that was the first time I experienced the thrill of seeing a ball hit the back of the net.
The emotion of scoring a goal is difficult to explain to those who have never experienced it. A moment filled with personal sensations, the achievement of a goal for the team.
In that moment, everyone celebrates: the scorer, the teammates, the fans. It’s a wonderful feeling I’ve experienced throughout the years in my youth and adolescence, strictly wearing the number 9.
It is an emotion that, in the strict sense of that kind of experience, I’ve missed heavily for over 20 years.
Sports Trading as a daily training ground
Who knows, maybe to compensate, and somehow respond to, that kind of absence, I embarked this professional journey.
Because in the end, there are many ways to “score” a goal, even without stepping onto the field.
My profession as a Sports Trader stems from a deep passion and an insatiable desire to achieve results, both for myself and for others.
It’s amazing to observe how, even in my long experimentation journey aimed at finding a winning strategy, I initially unconsciously connected to my initial passion. In the article Why Sport Trading I’m explaining more deeply the reason why worth for me embrace this professsion.
Passion and freedom
Passion and complete freedom, whether geographical, financial, or ethical, are the main prerequisites that, over time, have made Sports Trading my main occupation.
From an economic and financial perspective, the Sports Trading sector is enormous, extremely liquid, and experiencing remarkable growth.
And always, since I began this adventure, Sports Trading has been the source of funding for my businesses.
I firmly believe that to be successful in Trading, as in any other profession, it’s important to have purposes and goals. In my case, passion and the pursuit of a financially viable return, also for supporting my businesses.
But it’s not enough. At least, not for me.
I needed, and still need, a greater purpose as an essential motivation to keep improving myself, my preparation, and my performance.
Sports Trading has become a sort of training ground for my professional growth. A concrete field to invest time, energy, and money to score significant ‘goals.’
So, the journey to becoming a professional Sports Trader has led me to significant improvements, but from which perspective?
First of all, regarding the Mindset and the ability to face and manage delicate decision-making processes.
Then, for the psychophysical preparation, to be cultivated day after day, year after year.
Lastly, for the ability to make available to all the other personal and professional areas the improvements achieved and the milestones reached.
Sports Trading: more than just a profession
In conclusion, I can say that for me, Sports Trading is much more than a profession.
It’s the realization of a deep passion, it’s the daily challenge to improve oneself, it’s the thrill of scoring my ‘goal’ in the business market.
This journey has not only granted me personal and financial freedom but has also represented and still represents the training ground that shapes my mindset, my psychophysical preparation, and how I approach every decision.
Sports Trading, for me, is the perfect blend of passion and freedom and continues to be the driving force of my personal and professional growth, an experience I chose consciously and that has led me to achieve significant goals in the world of trading and in business.
Davide Renna is an Entrepreneur and Sport Trading Expert, dedicated to driving financial growth and innovation.
by Davide Renna | Sep 21, 2023 | Mindset
The journey to become a professional trader is long, challenging, and filled with obstacles.
One of the major obstacles, surprisingly overlooked, is the psychological and mental balance of the Trader. Balance is acquired with time and experience; it’s a journey of individual growth that is best not undertaken alone.
You need reference points to use as a model and support in order to get the right balance. Specially in the early stages of a business, and also during the following consolidation period.
When I started, there were no clear models to look up in the world of Sports Trading, making it challenging to reach a decent standard of professional growth.
It wasn’t easy. You had to figure everything out on your own, both the professional path and inner growth. Inevitably, something was lost along the way.
Often in terms of psychological enrichment, leading to stress that hindered the achievement of results.
To this day, the situation has only slightly improved. The purpose of this blog is to bridge the gap I personally experienced. The absolute lack of reference models confined my project to the narrow scope of a young boy’s crazy dream. No chances to “defend” myself by seeing the results, and especially the paths, of others before me.
Unfortunately, in Italy, we are still in the dark ages. A social context where the majority of people still consider psychological support a taboo (although they trust their general practitioners).
However, in recent years, the possibilities of finding well acknowledge Life Coaches/Mental Coaches have exponentially increased, thanks to the rise of literature on the subject mainly from the United States.
My experience as Professional Trader
Personally, I started in 2018, when i was looking for a support related at my entrepreneurial activities in Public Speaking field.
On that occasion, thanks to an online search, I came across two highly knowledgeable women (www.changel.it) who then became a useful reference point to support my personal growth.
For example, for my activity as a Sport Trader, it was very important to establish routines aimed at increasing my level of concentration. As well as specific work focused on managing emotions and stress.
Since then, their support has been fundamental for me, and I regularly make use of it on a periodic basis. Throughout the year, we identify the most pressing issues and set out on a path aimed at finding inner balance, which is crucial for any type of work.
Even in this communicative project related to Sports Trading, their contribution is indirectly present (and I am grateful for it) thanks to the specific work carried out in the last year, it has given me the conviction and courage to go beyond potential external judgments and give voice to this project.
Opportunities for Traders today
Currently, thanks to the significant digital development of recent years, it is possible to find this type of support nationally and even globally if you have a good command of English. It’s worth noting that the USA is always at the forefront on these issues.
Not long ago, following the reading of an incredible book (The Buddha and the Badass by Vishen Lakhiani), I came across the Mindvalley platform (www.mindvalley.com) of which Vishen Lakhiani is the Founder.
This platform represents an indispensable source of educational support in the realm of psychophysical well-being in any type of context.
Numerous solutions are available, and choosing one form of support over another is certainly linked to individual preferences.
The important thing, in my opinion, is not to feel like you are embarking this journey as one taken alone. It’s more complicated and challenging to go it alone.
It would be useful if one day even the world of Sports Trading could have its own Communities and Specialists.
This way, support could be offered to those crazy (but in love) individuals who want to venture into this type of activity at a professional level.
Davide Renna is an Entrepreneur and Sport Trading Expert, dedicated to driving financial growth and innovation.
by Davide Renna | Aug 31, 2023 | Mindset
A trader’s activity is a constant struggle with oneself. Viewed from another perspective, a continuous challenge to better understand oneself, to surpass one’s limits, and thus to grow personally.
So, after 23 years in this field, 9 of which as a professional, I finally managed to understand and put a name to a significant problem that was limiting my performance: FOMO.
What is FOMO
“FOMO” is an acronym that stands for “Fear Of Missing Out.” It refers to the feeling of anxiety or concern when one thinks that others may be enjoying experiences or opportunities that they themselves are missing out on, generating a strong desire to participate in such events or obtain similar opportunities.
The term FOMO was first introduced in 2004 and has become more widespread, especially with the advent of social media and digital culture.
How FOMO manifests in trading
FOMO is a common feeling in trading and investments. It occurs when a trader or investor sees a profit opportunity and fears missing out if they don’t act immediately, even if they haven’t conducted a thorough analysis of the market or situation.
In trading, FOMO drives many traders to make irrational decisions, such as entering a position just because they see the price rising rapidly or staying in a position for an extended period even when signals indicate it’s time to exit.
This behavior can lead to significant losses and harm long-term trading strategies.
Where did this problem come from?
Often, awareness of a problem, being able to recognize it, defining it, and giving it a name is already a significant part of the solution.
In philosophy, there is a principle in this regard called “You’re It,” which refers to this very situation: “If you are something, you don’t know it. If you know you are something, you aren’t it anymore.”
From this perspective, knowing that I had this problem has already significantly influenced its resolution.
However, every problem has a root, often different for each of us, as it is related to our personal experiences and belief systems.
In recent times, I have tried to delve into the root of this problem, which I identified as two of my specific “false” beliefs.
The term “belief” refers to an idea, opinion, or conviction that a person holds about something or someone.
Beliefs can be influenced by past experiences, the information one possesses, the opinions of others, culture, religion, and many other factors.
They can be positive or negative and can have a significant impact on a person’s behavior and decisions.
Beliefs are often limiting convictions inherited from one’s educational, cultural, and experiential background.
My wrong beliefs
Specifically, I realised that I had two completely erroneous beliefs:
1. I have little time available
I first limited myself through my personal perception of time.
I’ve always lived life at a rapid pace. This way of living, coupled with the feeling of time passing by, was causing me to accelerate all my processes, including decision-making. Results? A decline in the quality of each individual process.
In reality, it’s not true at all: I believe that each of us has a considerable amount of time, which we often use poorly. All it took for me was to pause, breathe, eliminate distractions, to understand that time is not a problem at all.
I have plenty of it, so I can wait for the right opportunity.
2. Opportunities should be seized when they arise.
Another limiting belief was tied to the fleeting nature of each opportunity.
You know the classic proverb, “opportunities pass by only once”?
I think this proverb heavily influenced my decisions, sometimes positively but also negatively at times.
The reality I’m gradually discovering is that, while it’s true that an individual train passes by only once. We live within the largest existing station, where thousands of trains pass by daily, all different and all beautiful.
What I’m finding out is that an opportunity shouldn’t be seized just because it’s passing by. Instead because it’s the right moment for me to grasp it, because I’m ready to seize it.
This depends on many factors, not just the fact that the opportunity is passing before my eyes.
I’m even experimenting, with considerable satisfaction, with the opposite principle: when I am ready, the right opportunity comes before me, in line with the principle of attraction and the law of resonance, of which the world is full of concrete examples.
The same principle I mentioned earlier applies to beliefs, namely that awareness is already a big part of the solution.
Belief is a thought, and as such, it can be eliminated and replaced with non-limiting and empowering thoughts.
Here are my two new empowering beliefs that have replaced the previous ones:
- I have all the time I desire
- Every day, many opportunities pass by; I will seize one when I feel ready
Perspective and actions: how I managed to change my mindset
Changing my thinking was, therefore, very important, even though it was just the starting point.
A change in mindset, in my opinion, is useless without an action plan that confirms the paradigm shift and concretely helps in everyday life.
I began to change my perspective regarding my goals, often big, ambitious, and stimulating but equally often causing chronic and dangerous dissatisfaction.
I decided consciously and rationally not to want to miss any single detail of the present in the name of a better future.
Everything I have is wonderful and absolutely enough: my free time, my work, my family, the place where I live. Nothing is missing.
We often think about what we want more of and differently, undervaluing or not appreciating what we already have. And this is a risk I no longer want to take.
3 concrete actions to effectively free myself from the grip of FOMO
1. I expanded the time horizon
Typically, I measure my performance in small units of time: the day, the week, the month, and the season (9 months).
So, I’ve decided to continue measuring these performances as intermediate milestones within a longer-term project spanning three years.
Expanding the time horizon for my goals helps me slow down and not feel compelled to seize a particular opportunity.
Essentially, I’ve forced my brain to think that “I have plenty of time.”
2. I reduced financial needs
I’ve never been a big saver, as I’ve always been focused on maximizing revenue, income streams, and planned investments.
However, this created a growing desire and need to increase revenue. Therefore, the “obligation” to seize every opportunity that came my way
Recently, I discovered the world of optimization, cost containment, and reducing unnecessary expenses, which effectively reduced my financial needs, with a significant benefit to my mindset.
At first, I was concerned that less financial pressure would lessen my motivation, as the urgency to perform at my peak seemed reduced. But I discovered the ideal motivation here as well. I strive for improvement, growth, and peak performance to fulfill my desire to become increasingly proficient in my work.
So, profit became a consequence of being good, rather than a stimulus driven by necessity—a profound paradigm shift.
3. I refined the selection criteria
How many opportunities are perceived as such without actually being so?
This is the thought that guided the process of refining the criteria for selecting my moves. It also helped me perceive events that did not align with it as “non-opportunities.”
The risk was having broad selection criteria, relying on my ability to assess individual decisions, and thus having ample opportunities to perceive a missed selection as a lost opportunity.
Today, if an event doesn’t fit these criteria, it’s perceived as “not meeting the criteria,” a motivation that is certainly better and less compromising to my mindset than the feeling of having missed an opportunity.
In conclusion: two new empowering conditions, one new perspective, and three new actions. From here begins my challenge to overcome this treacherous issue. It was risking to undermine my results and destabilize the precious psychological balance. Balance which every trader must cherish as the most valuable asset.
Davide Renna is an Entrepreneur and Sport Trading Expert, dedicated to driving financial growth and innovation.
