Another way to get some distance between yourself and your trading is to look at it from different perspectives. This is also true in your relationships with other people. In most interactions with another person there are three different and separate perceptual positions.

The self position is looking through your own eyes, hearing what you hear, feeling your own feelings, holding your own beliefs, and making your own interpretations. Most of us live our lives in this position. This is the position that gives you passion. It's where the juice is. From this position we have access to some information, but not all of it.

The observer position is that of a neutral observer, a fair witness. This is a dissociated position. Here you watch yourself and the other person. Here you are in the role of a spectator as you listen to yourself and the other person. As an observer you'll have a third party's commentary. This gives you an impartial view, but if you stay here too long, you could end up playing the role of the cold fish.

The other position gives you the other person's point of view. Here you look at things through the eyes of the other, hold the other's feelings, walk and stand in the other's shoes. This position gives you the ability to identify with and through another person. Here you see the world through another person's eyes and get a sense of what they're feeling. If you live too much in this position, you could be in danger of living in the doormat position.

By going to the observer position, you can gain perspective and neutrality. Some successful traders move to the observer position when they put on a trade. If you're getting too involved in a trade, move to the observer position and look at it from that perspective. At the end of a given trade or at the end of a trading day, take a look at your trading from the fair witness position.