The fact of the matter is, we all do things we don’t like. It’s just that we don’t know what to do about it.
I hate the idea that there is a way to say no to something. I hate the idea that there is a way to say no to something and then act on it.
It can take some work and effort to change a behavior that is destructive and detrimental to our health and safety. But by changing it, we may be able to change something else. And with that, most of us are able to change ourselves, by doing things we don’t like.
What is it that we dislike? It is usually a behavior that we don’t like, but we have negative associations in our mind. In this way, we have a strong negative association with the behavior. All of us are negatively affected by our behaviors. And when we do something bad, such as smoking, drinking, or gambling, it is usually something we are able to get rid of through negative associations.
What we do NOT do, is we are so sure that we are doing something bad and then we think we are right. We may think, I smoke, drink, gamble, and I think I am right. The problem is, it is in our mind, and for some reason, we feel it and act on it. When we feel that we are doing something bad, then the negative association with that bad thing is so strong that we will act and act for that bad thing.
When we are in “regulatory action” (aka gambling, drinking, and smoking), we are so sure of what we are doing that it becomes a negative association. We will think we are going to lose money, and if we do lose, we will feel that we were really bad for losing. We will feel it as a bad thing about ourselves.
When we are in regulatory action, we think we are going to get caught. In fact, we are going to get caught. In this case, the bad thing about the regulation action is that if you are in it, you are going to get caught. This is exactly what happens when we are in regulatory action. We think we are going to lose money, but when we win, we think it was a really good thing.
Regulatory actions are a bit like a game of chicken. We think we are going to win, but if the other team gets to our heads, we might get caught. Regulatory actions are also like a game of chess. We will win if we make it to a regulatory action, but if someone is watching, we might be caught and get the law thrown at us.
It is this sense of control that leads financial traders to work this way. We are always thinking about how close we can get to our goal, how much we might lose on certain trades, and how close we might be to getting caught.
If there is any evidence that we are not operating in this context, regulatory actions are likely to be the cause of the problem. It’s this constant sense of threat that makes traders so good at these actions.