- 1999: Volume 8, No. 1 The "Big Picture"

Most traders worry themselves through difficult periods of trading. Focusing on their powerlessness and pain, they are unable to see the "Big Picture." They are immersed in the minute-to-minute act of survival and neglect to look past the moment. What would happen, if they could put each trade into its rightful context and see that it is part of the big picture of a working system?

Of course, loss and failure are not the only things that lead us to focus on the small picture. Bill Gates once said that success was a poor teacher because it seduced people into believing they could not lose. People who are in the midst of great success are often unknowingly working their way through success to the other side, while focusing only on their invulnerability. Their new found arrogance often blinds them to the larger picture, setting them up for a fall from grace as they fail to see what is coming.

The Wake-Up Call

Ted was lucky enough to receive the wake-up call that accompanies a lack of attention to the "Big Picture." As a very successful money manager whose company grew too fast for him to manage, Ted lost control of everything in his life. He drank too much, and abused his personal life in many ways.

Inevitably, Ted started losing money. Up to this point, money had always been there and was the one measurement Ted had used to justify the way he was living. Like many other successful people, Ted had to go through a very bad period in his life to wake up. Now, he is taking care of himself, has regained his health, and his business is making money once again.

Labeling Life

Another way to limit your ability to see the "Big Picture" is to get trapped by your values. For Vinny, who needed to have the right labels on everything, success had always come easily. His definition of success meant that he had the right clothes, the right friends, the right car, and membership in the right country club. When Vinny lost his money and, consequently, everything he had, he lost all of his friends, who also defined their friendships through the "label-system." Vinny's trip out of bad times was an arduous one until he redefined success and was able to see the "Big Picture." Now, Vinny is as financially successful as before, but he lives his life differently based upon a larger set of values.

Restricting Opportunity

A third way to restrict your ability to see the "Big Picture" is to restrict your opportunities. Just as Vinny was trapped by his values, Gwen was trapped by her concepts. Gwen was a commodities trader who had only one idea of how her trading was going to be done. She had to trade on her own and there was no other way for her to do it. The problem was that she was not suited to trading successfully on her own. She had limits on her capital, on her training and expertise, and on her ability to run her own business. Because of her limiting notions, she could not see opportunity around her and found herself cornered in a position where she could do nothing.

Once she was cornered, Gwen was forced to look around and rethink her assumptions. Within a short time, she found a job trading for a company and was making far more money than she could have ever made on her own. She is no longer working from early in the morning until late at night, and she has a family life once again.

Stuck in the Problem

When we are stuck in the problem, it is difficult for most of us to see the way out. We are so close to the situation that we cannot step back and see that the final outcome is better than we could have imagined.

One of the reasons that we get stuck in the problem is that we extrapolate results from what is happening right this minute. If things are going well, we cannot foresee failure. When things are going terribly, we cannot imagine times improving dramatically. Whatever we see now is what we can see in the future. A part of this lack of foresight is due to a lack of imagination. Few people have the imagination required to create in their minds the completed picture of a house from a set of plans or the final cut of a great movie from the original screenplay. This skill is called vision and can be identified in a handful of individuals commonly referred to as "visionaries."

Planning for the Best and the Worst Outcomes

Since few of us are visionaries, one of the best ways for us to gain a grasp on the "Big Picture" and its outcome is the act of planning. Learning to plan for the best possible outcome can bring you out of a downturn faster and take you to the best possible outcome faster than staying stuck in the problem. The process of planning requires you to ask questions that can generate new ways of perceiving a problem, which will remove limiting notions about the way things have to be done. For example, you might ask yourself:

• How can this problem be turned into an opportunity?
• What can I do to solve this problem on my own?
• What can I do to solve this problem by getting outside help?
• Is there another way to look at this problem-how would a very successful person look at this problem?
• In the past, have I observed anyone else resolve this problem successfully?
• Have others who are now successful had to resolve this problem?
• Have I ever experienced a similar problem and if so, how did I resolve the situation?

On the other hand, getting a grasp of the "Big Picture" also requires you to plan for the worst possible outcome as well. By anticipating the worst thing that could happen, you are in a position to:

• Soften the blow
• Avert the problem altogether
• Put into place a set of defensive strategies
• Create an alternative to what you are currently doing-an escape route
• Prepare yourself mentally and physically
• Create a totally different reality and/or outcome

In the event planning for the worst possible outcome worries you, it does not insure the worst will occur nor does it create pessimism or depression. In fact, it is a very liberating experience to develop the worst case scenario and your response to it. This process tends to give you a sense of security while it frees your focus to solving the problems confronting you. Planning stimulates the imagination so that you are more likely to see opportunity in the guise of a problem.

Taking the Long View

Bruce went to work every day fearing that he would lose his job. The sad thing about the situation was not that Bruce's job was in jeopardy, but that after 10 years at the same job, Bruce could barely support his family and could not see past the limitations of his present situation.

When Bruce asked me to help him find a way to hold onto his job or find another job, he was shocked and hurt when I refused. I told him that I would not honor his request because he was stuck in an old way of thinking. Instead, I offered to help him set up his own business so that he could use the vital industry information and contacts that he had developed to become a successful supplier. At first, Bruce was resistant to the idea and came up with reasons that he would fail (the worst case scenario). We worked through the reasons and found ways to overcome them. Within three months, Bruce was not only in business, he was solvent. By the end of the first year, he was making three times what he had been making as an employee of the same company he was now supplying. The "Big Picture" was that Bruce was in an industry where he could play any role he chose to play-and he could play a minor role or a starring role with the same amount of effort.

Preparing for Success

Part of planning your way out of the small picture is to keep yourself conditioned for success once opportunity comes your way. People who are stuck in the problem often let themselves go physically and emotionally because they see no way out. Keeping your eye on the "Big Picture" will help in maintaining good physical health and in avoiding the self-destructive behaviors that will tempt you when you are feeling helpless and hopeless. Then, when opportunity presents itself, you will find yourself in the right condition to meet the challenges that both the bad times and the opportunities will present you.

The Past and the Future

If you consider your past, your future will fall into one of the following categories:

• Same—Generally, people will place themselves into the same monetary and social category they have been accustomed to when they do not add resources to their situation. Whatever you have been accustomed to in the past will equal the future if you continue to do the same thing you have always done.
• Better—If you want the future to be better than the past, you must expand your resources and add new ones to your situation.
• Worse—Tragedy, trauma, a loss of physical health, or marital problems are generally the only factors which will pull you into a lower station than you have formerly experienced.

Resources

Adding resources to your life or using the resources you already have is the single most effective method for improving your circumstances. It is also the fastest way to pull yourself out of a bad spell. People often ask me what I mean by resources. All too often, people who are stuck in a problem fail to recognize that they even have resources to draw upon. The life resources to which I am referring are your:

• Skills.
• Talents.
• Experiences.
• Training.
• Contacts, friends, family, and social support network.
• Capital in liquid and non-liquid forms, i.e. bank accounts, investments, property, loans to others, etc.
• Education.
• Knowledge of specific. ideas, strategies, etc.
• Character strengths-for example, if you have been working on your courage to handle difficult situations, your willingness to stick to a long-term plan, your commitment to goals.

The Friendship/Mentor/Coach Resource

These resources are what you can draw upon when you are stuck in a problem and unable to see the larger picture. If you add resources to the mix, the equation changes. One of the very best resources you can add is a special person who brings problem-solving skills and important contacts. With this resource, your view will widen and dramatically improve your chances of solving your problems. Even if this special person has no contacts or important resources to bring you, he or she may bring you the important resource of a new perception of the situation. Sometimes, it takes another person to tell us that we are suffering from self-inflicted wounds when we are convinced that we are victims of a particular situation. He or she may offer simple encouragement or faith in our abilities to handle the problems at hand. The added emotional support can give us the strength to periscope up and look at the "Big Picture" for a brief moment and change the entire situation. For most people, the skill of a professional counselor who becomes this special person is usually the best combination.

Conclusion

When we are experiencing a bad time in our lives, we tend to constrict our vision and limit our ability to solve problems. Under stress, we lose the imagination to see that what is happening now is not the only thing that can and will happen. Often this myopia prevents us from seeing that our troubles are often a needed wake-up call that can bring far greater opportunities and happiness than what we have lost. Stepping back and seeing the "Big Picture" will result in being able to plan for the best and worst scenarios. A view of the "Big Picture" with a solution to our problems can come from using the resources we currently have or adding new ones to our situation.