The Super Mario Effect

Remember back as a kid, playing Super Mario on your Super Nintendo for hours on end trying to beat the same level. You would go through the levels jumping over all the Goomba and dodging fireballs.

As you were going through the map suddenly a giant canon fires off fand knocks you through one of the holes in the map. You loose one of the lives and you start back over from the beginning of the map.

When you start the map over again now you have experience.

Before you get to the same spot where the Canon knocked you off the map you stop, you allow the cannon to fire off past you and then you proceed to move on to then next obstacle.

When we are playing these games we are hyper learners constantly receiving and analyzing data. We are scanning the map for potential hazards and actively learning through the process of clearing the map.

Now this is our childhood self who is relentless at achieving the goal. Why is that when we go back to these games as an adult and we experience failure we see it as a representation that we are insufficient to complete the obstacle?

The Super Mario effect as shared by Mark Rober in this very popular Ted talk describes the psychology behind this theory that we perform at higher levels of engagement when the activity we are engaging it is someone fun or entertaining to us.

When we identify the obstacle as kinda like game or a challenge with a prize for solving we are now able to approach the activity with a less stressed perception of how to handle it. We understand that if we fail then we will just try again and again until we get it right.

We need to develop this same kind of playful mindset when we are trading the market. There are going to be situations when the news or one of President Trump’s Tweets just completely blind side you and cause a trade that you had to go completely sour.

Learn from that event. See how you can better anticipate these scenarios occurring. More importantly see how to understand when these situations are occurring so then you can be prepared to act appropriately.

As you going about your trading this week, remember to have some fun as you are doing it. Try to create some friendly competition between a few friends to help motivate you. Although the market can be dry and boring to many it also can be seen with great excitement as it contains fast moves and unpredictable spikes.

Watch the Full Version of the Ted Talk right below so you too can “Tricking Your Brain into Learning More”