You can increase your risk-taking ability and overcome fears by analyzing your actions and asking empowering questions, as explored earlier.

Here are a few questions which can further help with your analysis and motivate you to make a difference once you understand more about what keeps you from taking risk.  These questions are designed to take place when analyzing your trading decisions and chosen entry and exit points.

• Exactly how much were you influenced by your emotional reactions?  Did it make a major difference in your decision?
• Did you stay with the trade with confidence, or did you exit prematurely once you had a profit because of anxiety?
• Did you add to your position (increasing risk and potential reward) and hold it through an extended uptrend you anticipated?  Did you add at all when you should have?
• If the stock declined below your purchase point (but not stop-loss point), did you stick to your analysis and hold the trade (take heat) or did you cut your loss quickly?
• Were you trying to call a top or bottom or were you fully open to price action?

If you are not getting the results you envision, you must devise some form of analysis to study your behavior, results, and your reaction to the market opportunities you are trading.  Documenting your trades and analyzing more than just “profit or loss” can give you great insights into ways to increase your risk-taking behavior and profitability.