Month: June 2025

In the world of financial markets, most traders obsess over strategies, indicators, and entry signals. But what if the real game-changer isn’t in your charts, but in your mind?

Welcome to the realm of trading psychology — the often-overlooked factor that separates struggling traders from consistent, profitable ones. And within this field lies a powerful concept that can make or break your trading journey: the scarcity mindset.

What Is Trading Psychology?

Trading psychology refers to the mental and emotional aspects that influence decision-making in the markets. While technical and fundamental analysis get a lot of attention, it’s your mindset — your thoughts, beliefs, and emotions — that often determine your actual results.

Whether you’re hesitating to pull the trigger on a trade, panicking during drawdowns, or chasing the market due to FOMO (fear of missing out), you’re experiencing the direct effects of trading psychology.

Mastering this inner game enables traders to remain calm during volatility, adhere to their systems, and maintain confidence even after experiencing losses.

The Silent Saboteur: Scarcity Mindset

One of the biggest psychological traps traders fall into is operating from a scarcity mindset.

This mindset whispers things like:

• “I need this trade to work.”
• “If I lose again, I’m done.”
• “There won’t be another opportunity like this.”

When you’re thinking this way, you’re not trading strategically — you’re trading emotionally. You start treating each trade as if it’s your last shot at success. And that pressure leads to impulsive decisions, overtrading, and eventually, burnout.

How Scarcity Manifests in Traders

Scarcity shows up in many forms:

• Fear of missing out (FOMO), leading to chasing trades late
• Fear of loss, causing early exits or avoiding valid setups
• Obsession with performance, tying self-worth to profit and loss
• Overanalysis, constantly tweaking your strategy out of fear it’s “not working”

In short, scarcity causes traders to operate from fear instead of clarity. It overrides logic and discipline, which are critical components of a successful trading psychology.

Why Trading Psychology Matters More Than Strategy

Even the best strategies fail when executed under emotional pressure. You can have a system with a proven edge, but if you’re mentally unprepared, you’ll:

• Exit winners too early
• Hold onto losers too long
• Skip trades out of fear
• Revenge trade to “get even”

This is why trading psychology isn’t just important — it’s essential. It’s the foundation upon which your entire trading performance is built.

From Scarcity to Abundance: A Mindset Shift for Traders

The antidote to scarcity is an abundance mindset. This shift in perspective fundamentally changes how you approach the market.

Here’s what abundance-based trading psychology looks like:

• You trust that opportunities are endless
• You believe your edge will play out over time
• You detach your identity from short-term results
• You see risk as part of the process, not something to fear

As Louise Bedford, a renowned trading mentor, says:

“Scarcity whispers lies to traders — that this is your only chance, that you’ll miss out, that you’re not enough. But the market will always give you another opportunity… if your mind is calm enough to see it” – Louise Bedford, Talking Trading.

When you let go of scarcity, you begin trading with confidence, discipline, and patience — three of the most powerful traits in successful traders.

How to Shift Your Trading Psychology

Changing your mindset doesn’t happen overnight, but here are actionable steps you can start implementing today:

1. Become Aware of Scarcity-Based Language

Pay attention to your thoughts. If you find yourself thinking:

• “I need this trade to work.”
• “I can’t afford to lose.”
• “This might be my only shot.”

Pause. Recognize this as a scarcity pattern. Take a breath, step back, and reassess.

2. Create a Process-Focused Routine

Shift your focus from results to process. Judge your performance based on whether you followed your trading plan — not whether a trade was a win or loss.

Consistency in following your process builds confidence and neutralizes the emotional rollercoaster.

3. Redefine Your Relationship with Risk

Understand that risk is not your enemy — it’s your partner. Every trade involves uncertainty. Accepting this helps reduce fear and makes room for better decisions.

4. Journal Your Trades and Emotions

Keep a trading journal that includes both technical details and emotional states. This helps you identify recurring psychological patterns and improve your decision-making over time.

5. Work With a Coach or Mentor

A skilled trading coach can help you identify blind spots in your mindset and guide you through the necessary shifts. Just as athletes have coaches to manage mental performance, traders benefit from the same.

Real-Life Example: From Scarcity to Freedom

Helen Jones, a former client of Rik Schnabel, overcame her scarcity mindset and became a full-time trader in just 9 months.

“Thanks to Rik’s coaching, I retired from my job and became a full-time trader. His approach helped me overcome the negative mindset that was holding me back. He challenged me to aim higher — not just to leave my job, but to create the life I truly wanted.”

Helen’s story is a reminder that trading success isn’t just about skill — it’s about mindset. She didn’t just build a profitable system. She built a sustainable trading life.

Final Thoughts: Trade with Clarity, Not Chaos

If you’ve been stuck in survival mode, reacting to every tick of the market with fear, it’s time to take a step back.

Your biggest breakthrough won’t come from the next “holy grail” indicator — it will come from mastering your trading psychology. When you shift from scarcity to abundance, everything changes.

You stop chasing trades and start letting the market come to you.

You stop fearing losses and start learning from them.

You stop trading to survive — and start trading to thrive.

Ready to break the scarcity cycle and transform your trading mindset?
Start by asking yourself: “Am I trading from fear or from trust?”
Then take the next step to master your mind — and finally, master the markets.

Talk to R!k Schnabel about how he can help you to improve your trading mindset. You can book a free time with R!k here.

In today’s results-driven world, coaching has become one of the fastest-growing industries globally, and with good reason. Whether you’re a life coach, business coach, or performance coach, your clients come to you with one primary goal: transformation. But if you’re not trained in the science of how people think, behave, and change, you’re operating at a disadvantage. That’s why I believe Coaches should learn Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).

NLP: The Missing Link in Coaching Mastery

Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, is a behavioral science developed in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. It explores the relationship between neurological processes (neuro), language (linguistic), and learned behavioral patterns (programming). Simply put, NLP is the study of how our mind works, how we communicate internally and externally, and how we can reprogram unhelpful habits and thought patterns.

For coaches, NLP is not just useful — it’s transformative and that’s why Coaches should learn Neuro Linguistic Programming.

💡 1. 90% of Success Comes From Mindset — And NLP Is Mindset Mastery

There’s an often-cited principle in high-performance psychology that says:

“Success is 90% mindset and 10% strategy.“

While this may sound cliché, it’s backed by research. Studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center found that people with a growth-oriented mindset — one rooted in optimism, self-belief, and resilience — consistently outperform others, even when skill levels are equal.

So what does this mean for coaches?

If you’re only giving your clients strategies, but not addressing how they think, how they process failure or how they internally speak to themselves, you’re likely watching them sabotage progress again and again. It’s like giving someone a map but never teaching them how to drive.

With NLP tools, you gain access to techniques that help reframe limiting beliefs, remove internal blocks, and install powerful success-oriented thinking patterns. And when your client’s mindset shifts, everything else follows.

2. NLP Offers Practical Tools You Can Use Immediately

Unlike some abstract psychological theories, NLP is hands-on. It provides real-world tools that can be used in coaching sessions right away. Some of the most powerful include:

• Anchoring: Installing empowering emotional states like confidence or focus on demand.
• Reframing: Helping clients change how they perceive setbacks or trauma.
• Swish patterns: Breaking destructive habits or thought loops rapidly.
• Meta-model questioning: Cutting through vague or limiting language to reveal core beliefs.

These tools allow you to go far deeper than surface-level advice. You’ll be able to shift someone’s internal world — not just their external actions.

3. The Science Behind NLP’s Effectiveness

While NLP itself has had mixed reviews in the academic community (largely due to inconsistencies in early definitions and methodologies), newer research into neuroplasticity, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and language-based change models supports many of NLP’s foundational principles.

For instance:

• Neuroplasticity shows that the brain is capable of rewiring itself based on thought patterns and repeated behavior — a concept NLP embraced decades ago.
• CBT relies heavily on reframing thoughts and changing internal dialogue — techniques mirrored in NLP.
• Research published in journals like Frontiers in Psychology confirms that language plays a critical role in shaping our reality and decision-making.

NLP may have been ahead of its time, but modern neuroscience continues to validate the core idea: change your thoughts, and you change your life.

4. Most Clients Are Stuck Emotionally, Not Strategically

As a coach, you’ve probably seen this pattern: a client knows what to do, but they’re not doing it.

• They have a plan… but can’t get started.
• They have goals… but keep sabotaging them.
• They’ve read the books… but feel stuck.

This isn’t a strategy issue — it’s a mindset issue.

Until you can help a client shift emotionally and neurologically, progress will be slow, frustrating, and unsustainable. NLP gives you the tools to identify emotional blocks and shift them in real time — sometimes in a single session.

5. Stand Out in a Crowded Coaching Market

Let’s face it: the coaching industry is booming — but it’s also crowded. Everyone claims to be a mindset expert or transformation guide. So how do you set yourself apart?

By bringing measurable, rapid change to your clients — something NLP-trained coaches can consistently deliver.

NLP gives you credibility, structure, and outcomes. When your clients experience profound internal shifts and achieve faster results, you become unforgettable — and that leads to more referrals, better testimonials, and increased demand.

6. If You Can’t Help Clients Change Their Mindset, You’re Just Spinning Your Wheels

Here’s the hard truth: If you can’t help your clients change the way they think, you’re just giving them temporary band-aids.

You’re telling them to push harder, try more, be more disciplined — but not showing them how to remove the internal resistance that’s creating the problem in the first place.

Without mindset change, strategy is futile. You’ll spend your sessions repeating the same surface-level advice while your client wonders why nothing sticks.

NLP cuts through that cycle. It allows you to go beneath the surface, diagnose the real issue, and shift it for good.

7. Clients Are Demanding Deeper Results

Today’s clients are more self-aware and expect transformational results, not just accountability or cheerleading. They want to:

• Overcome fear and self-doubt
• Break long-standing patterns
• Feel empowered, confident, and clear
• Create lasting change — not just temporary motivation

In summary: If you can deliver this level of impact, you’ll be in the top 5% of coaches. NLP is your gateway to delivering that depth and transformation consistently.

Keen to find out how to get the edge in coaching? Learn more about how NLP gives you that edge.