How To Stop Looping-Part 2: Written Containment
In trading, things go wrong – that is the nature of the business, and other than quitting the business, there is nothing you can do about this universal truth. What makes things going wrong worse is that we are our own worst enemies when it comes to stopping the destructive inner cycle that plagues everyone at some stage.
The inner coach morphs into the inner critic.
You cannot argue your way out of an irrational loop because internal debate only keeps the threat file active in working memory. To quiet the mind, give your prefrontal cortex a structured, physical filing task.
How Written Containment Works
Written containment is not a passive journaling exercise—it is a form of resetting
Here is how to run it right at your trading desk:
Write the Core Worry in One Sentence: Grab a sheet of paper and state the exact thought loop clearly. The more clearly you articulate this thought, the more effective the reset is.
Draw Two Columns:
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- Column 1: What I Can Control
- Column 2: What I Cannot Control
Be Brutally Honest in Sorting: Put actionable steps in the first column (e.g., setting a hard stop loss, adjusting position size, reviewing trade rules). Put market behaviour in the second column (e.g., FOMC announcements, institutional flow, overnight market gaps).
Why Your Brain Needs the Paper
My experience has been that you will usually notice that the “Cannot Control” column contains the majority of the items. Seeing this distinction on paper communicates something to your brain that thinking alone cannot. It gives your prefrontal cortex the precise categorisation needed to shift the thought from an active, urgent threat to an acknowledged, contained file.
