Friday, August 28, 2026

Introduction To Renewal: Where Are You Going?

Each of us is on a journey called life.  This book is about finding your map.

Without a coherent life map, there can be no effective trading maps.  It is the life map that provides us with the resources necessary for open-mindedness, insight, and resilience.  Our trading psychology can be no better than our life psychology.

Most of us, at points in time, have stepped back and thought about the meaning and purpose of life.  During those moments of reflection, we suspend daily routines and tap into a larger reality: a sense of what life can be.

Too soon, however, we return to days and weeks saturated by projects, to-do lists, career demands, markets, and family obligations and we lose that larger perspective.  We fail to develop our map to the life that could be.  And so we wander in our narrow places, exiled from life's broader possibilities. 

Much of applied psychology boils down to a single insight:  Life problems occur when we become trapped in repetitive patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior.  We may be consciously aware of these patterns, yet they stubbornly stay with us:  the same conflicts with spouses; the same harsh, self-critical thoughts; the same fears and frustrations; the same trading mistakes; the same attachments and addictions to things that bring no lasting fulfillment.  

Most of us don't have dozens of problems in life, though it sometimes feels that way.  We have one overarching problem with multiple manifestations, and that problem boils down to an impairment of free will.  When our patterns control us, we are no longer fully self-determining.  Pushed to and fro by life's winds and waves, we craft no coherent journey and reach no meaningful destination.  Much of psychology--and especially the world's great spiritual traditions--are gateways to becoming more conscious, more aware, more intentional.  

This book is about cultivating your intentionality:  your capacity for free willWe cannot succeed in life--or in financial markets--if our capacity for free choice is repeatedly hijacked by moment-to-moment ego desires and demands.  When we expand our will, the result is a renewal of life.  When that expansion becomes part of our lifestyle, the result is a radical renewal.




The irony is that each of us already has a path to meaningful life renewal--some of us through artistry, some through career achievement, some through family and relationships, some through service, many through combinations of these.  Our path is there; we recognize it during those moments of clarity when we step back from routine.  We feel that path when we are immersed in what we do well--what matters to us--and when we operate in "the zone".  The challenge is keeping that path visible and staying our course.

The problem is not that we lack free will.  The problem is that we operate with a partial will.

When repetitive patterns take the form of problems--obsessive thoughts, periodic temper outbursts, anxious moods, self-doubts, etc.--we can perceive them clearly.  When life itself becomes a repetitive pattern--when we are consumed by routine--we are all too likely to lose our larger life perspective.  Fish cannot understand water: it is all around, all the time.  So it is with our routines:  once we're immersed in them, we perceive little else and no longer clearly perceive our meaningful life path.  

Traditional psychology offers powerful tools for changing  maladaptive patterns:  behavioral methods, cognitive techniques, interpersonal modalities, psychodynamic approaches, and many more.  There is solid evidence that these methods are useful.  We can indeed change self-defeating patterns of thought, feeling, and action, often in a surprisingly short period of time.

What happens, however, when life itself is an endless loop of routine, a pattern that fails to bring fulfillment?  At that point, self-help techniques are not what is needed.  We need to move beyond our narrow selves and beyond those routines.  This is the essence of radical renewal:  not improving the ego--the narrow self--but transcending it Not traveling the same path better, but finding what Castaneda called "the path with heart".  Our path.  

This is the path we must navigate to exit the loops of our trading problems.




Think of it this way:  in traditional counseling, therapy, and self-help, we seek to change ourselves.  In renewal, we seek a change of our selves.  It's an important difference.  Traditional methods can help us lead better lives.  Through renewal, we truly lead new lives.  With expanding self-determination--a freer will--we become better leaders of our lives.  Renewal is about freeing the will and becoming more of who we actually are in those moments when we are at our best, traveling our paths with heart. 

In the pages that follow, we will explore a wealth of practical resources in psychology, religion, and spirituality that can help us lead our lives and re-new our selves.  We will explore three specific paths to renewal and how these can move our lives--and our trading--forward.

You can see that the book is written in blog format, with each post representing a fresh chapter.  The format makes the book accessible to anyone anywhere with an online connection.  The blog format also allows a seamless integration of links, graphics, and resources within the text.

At a personal level, this book is a radical renewal of my writing.  For a while, I found myself procrastinating over authoring yet another text.  Only when I fully embraced the flaw of my procrastination did it come to me to write an online book.  Immediately I felt excitement.  The blog format, I recognized, means that the text is free of charge.  In writing a free book, I think of the project differently--as a gift. Suddenly writing becomes an act of generosity and gratitude.  It's an opportunity to give a gift to people I've never met, all around the world!  How cool and wonderful is that?!  But it's even more:  Every graphic and link to works that have inspired me becomes a thank you to those who have influenced me, resources I'm privileged to share with others.



Equally exciting is the fact that the blog format allows for comments by readers, my responses to comments, and frequent updating of the text.  As our learning and understanding grow, yours and mine, the book can grow.  When readers contribute insights and I respond, the online book becomes a dialogue, a set of conversations:  a way in which, together, we expand our understanding.  I have written the book but, going forward, I hope that we will continually rewrite it.

In short, renewal--whether in writing a book or crafting our trading--changes what we do and how we do it, turning the commonplace and routine into the dynamic and meaningful.

There was a time we were new--as children--and everything seemed interesting and exciting.  There was no lack of energy and interest.  When we are re-newed, life once again gives us energy.  I can be pumped writing these pages, because the writing isn't work:  it's wrapping gifts.  

What if all of life can be that way?  What if your trading can be that way?  What if your path to fulfillment is already laid out for you, dormant, waiting to be uncovered and discovered?

I look forward to your comments, observations, and questions.  We're all on a life journey.  Let's make it a voyage worth taking.
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NEXT PAGE:  CHAPTER ONE

Back to Table of Contents
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30 comments:

  1. Thank you.

    I am looking forward to the rest of this book. " What if your path to fulfillment is already laid out for you, dormant, waiting to be uncovered and discovered?" what a refreshing perspective way to look at trading.

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  2. Have to thank you for all generosity in sharing this book interily free.

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  3. Thank you Doctor for this "Gift" :)
    You are an inspiration
    i look forward to learning more from you

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  4. Dear Mr. Steenbarger,
    Just read the foreword, and I am already crying.The yearning for self fulfillment is intense.Trading is my vehicle for it. Yet
    the road feels lonely and long.
    I think your book will a companion.
    Thank you.

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  5. Insightful, novel, and fresher, as always. Started yesterday with the book. I am grateful for this gift. God bless in many ways.

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  6. Echoing above comment by Ritu. Thank you Dr. S. for writing this new online book and sharing it to the trading community free of charge! This is a fascinating and innovative area of study (the intersection between trading psychology and spirituality) and I'm very excited to read the rest of this book and to apply it to my life.

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  7. Dear Brett,

    I am so happy to begin reading your new book, Radical Renewal! About two months ago I googled "spiritual trading" and your Forbes article came up as the top search. I was delighted to read it and now I am even more delighted to read and communicate with you on this topic thru your new book!

    Right out of college I got an interview for a proprietary trader job, and I am pretty sure it was because I was a woman, not because I studied sociology. I was contemplating this career, and found the Market Wizards book. One interview really struck me - it was an anonymous interview by a successful trader who claimed that trading was like zen and likened it to surfing the waves of the market. That perspective really inspired me, and I thought "I want to do that"

    I proceeded to day trade bond futures, meditated every day before the open, and did have couple of experiences that definitely confirmed to me that there was such thing as trading with the flow of the market. I will share one story with you, the one that resulted in me stepping out of a fearful mode when engaging with the market after my biggest loss to date. My interpretation of it has been that I faced my worst case fear in that moment, and then I was able to trade without fear. The feeling of flow was amazing. I recouped all my losses in about an hour and my manager came to my desk and said "you have the heart of a lion".

    My question to you is: when you recount the story of Paul Tudor Jones, I was surprised to read that he felt that his fear needed to be the most motivating factor. My own experience is that fear is the domain of the ego, and soul doesn't experience fear. Would love to hear your thoughts on that.

    Thank you again! Super excited when I imagine the sense of renewal that is possible by aligning myself with my heart. I am currently in the process of getting back into trading and I can't imagine a better guide for that!

    Rossi

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  8. I want to thank readers for the very supportive response to the book. The wonderful thing about trading is that, in mastering markets, we learn to master ourselves. The right trading pushes us to become better people.

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  9. You ask a good question, Rossi. My understanding of the Wizards interview is that PTJ came away from his experience with humility and perspective, not with fear. That is why his experience of loss was inspiring and not debilitating.

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    1. Bringing up fear right in the intro to a book about trading, spirituality, and life I feel stresses the importance of it, and sometimes in the not so obvious ways. I saw Deepak Chopra talk in Chicago and he said fear was the most debilitating disease on the planet. I also follow work done by the Monroe Institute and right on the front page of their site a quote from Robert Monroe: "Fear is the greatest barrier to human growth." Even in spiritual text like Way of Mastery a main premise is that every life decision is made from a place of love or a place of fear. It'll be interesting to see how it is addressed in the rest of the blog.

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  10. Dr Brett: thank you again for your wonderful thoughts and insights. It's very fitting you would arrive at this topic and format. I have your books and they sit in a special place behind my desk as a psychological backdrop my wall of trading texts. There has always been a special connection for me in your work, and I still go back through them finding little gems. I look forward to participating and wish you and your family the best !!

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  11. After reading the first page, I felt compelled to comment. Thank you for sharing your book and I look forward to the other pages.

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  12. brett muchas gracias, no se ingles jajajaja,estoy utilizando el traductor de google,pero te queria agradecer por compartirnos este libro en formato blog,hay que compartirlo para que le llegue a mas personas,un abrazo, use translator

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  13. BretT: Thanks for tackling this subject and for doing so in this format. It's exactly what I need at this pint in my trading, and the blog format is allowing me to benefit further by connecting with others to work through it. I just started a weekly discussion group in the SMB Futures student community and I'm looking forward to seeing where this takes us. - Toby O.

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  14. Brett, I am not a trader but this blog is giving me so much to think about how I am living my life.

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  15. Dear Brett, Thank you for this incredibly generous gift of your experience and wisdom. My trading mentors in Melbourne, Australia, have consistently put a huge emphasis on psychology. This works well for me as my biggest reasons for doing their mentor program were personal growth and self development. Twenty plus years of ego driven investing are now a distant memory.Your book is perfectly timed for the next step in my personal and spiritual growth. As they say: "When the student is ready, the master appears". Best wishes, Dr Peter Holsman MD, ND

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  16. Thanks for this gift! Im very excited to dive into it 😁

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  17. Thank you so much Dr. Brett! You are a blessing to the trading community. I look forward in guiding us in our spiritual trading journey. May GOD give you and your family best of health always. I am so blessed finding this blog early this year of 2020. -Engr. Luiz de Asis, Tacloban City, Philippines

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  18. Started at the Merc in 1998 as a runner, over to the CBOE as a trainee, then an options market maker, upstarts to the Board of Trade as a bond spreader, to now an ES, NQ, CL day/swing trader. High probability I wouldn't have made it this far if it weren't for Dr. Brett's work. Many thanks.

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  19. I was introduced to Dr Brett's blog and books by reading Mike Bellafiore's books and by following SMB capital online resources. 2020 is my year, I have seen so much growth in the few weeks of studying Dr Brett's books and reading his blogs. Thanks lots. Looking forward to sharing more on my radically renewed self and life journey in both my trading and personal life. Thanks Dr Steenbager

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  20. Thank you for this wonderful blog and online book. It is having a meaningful affect on me - almost exactly what I needed and was looking for.

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  21. Thank you very much for this book Brett! I'm already super glued to my screen looking forward to the journey you are about to take me on. Stay Blessed

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  22. Thank you for your insights Doc. I love your blog and I look forward to unwrapping this new "gift".

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  23. I thank you sir for this gift. Reading this is going to be part of my morning routine as a great trader on journey of self discovery. i don't know how to express my gratitude anymore than to say thank you, i hope someday i'll be able to pass this knowledge forward.

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  24. Hola doctor Brett, escribo en español para aportar un poco de diversidad a su area de comentarios :). Esta lectura me ha parecido refrescante. Mientras leía vi cosas que son ciertas en mi y efectivamente va más allá del trading. Me ha dado un poco de esperanza en que puedo lograr ser trader, llevo 2 años intentandolo y sé que es posible que falte mucho mas.

    Saludos!

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  25. The word is joy. May all of us find joy in what we do! Thank you.

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  26. Thank you Dr Steebaeger, just watched a brief video on your Youtube Channel on Tilt trading. I desperately need to best more skillful in the way i use ego and look forward to learning how i can do this. I am Eager to contribute if i can

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  27. Dr. Steenbarger, I was very impressed by your answer to my question on Topstep TV this past week. You responded with the concept of "forgiveness" which i found to be incredibly interesting. I took your advice and came to find the "blog" you have here. Thank you so much for your response, I'm very excited to read this, as it encompasses my greatest interests - psychology, spirituality and trading. Perfect for my own personal journey, I couldn't have been directed down a better route. Thank you for making this resource free. It is inspiring.

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  28. Siento como si el universo me hubiese mandado aquí hoy y ahora, tengo casi 2 años en el trading y no he logrado ser rentable... La causa: mi sicología... Y este post me describió en sencillas palabras lo que no lograba entender sobre que me pasa. Estoy ansiosa por leerlo está joya completa... Muchas gracias Brett Steenbarger.

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