Taking Time Off from Your Trading
April 24, 2008
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John Forman - The Essentials of Trading author
Do you take trading breaks? Do you take vacations from the screens and prices and CNBC coverage and all of that? If so, good for you. If not, you definitely should.
As I wrote earlier in Good Trading Doesn’t Happen Overnight, you have to treat trading like basically any other activity. That means you need to take time away in order to continue working at maximum effectiveness.
What happens when you don’t take a vacation from your job? You get stressed out and run down. Your performance suffers and you increase your chances of getting sick.
What happens when an athlete doesn’t take a break from training and playing? They get fatigued both mentally and physically. Their performance slips and they increase the risk of getting hurt.
It’s the same in trading, especially if you trade short-term. Trading can be a real grind. It can really sap you. To ensure that you’re trading at your best consistently you need to take time away to recharge. Just like vacations from work or school, you need to seperate yourself from it for a while.
And I don’t just mean taking time off when you see your performance slipping - though that can certainly be a sign of needing a break. You should try to avoid getting to that stage, though, by thinking proactively and scheduling time off to ensure that you don’t get burned out. Look for patterns in your trading during the year (or whatever timeframe makes sense for you) and identify those where it would actually be good to be away from the markets. It could really make a very positive impact on your long-term performance.
Also, keep in mind that sometimes there are things going on in your life that will distract you. Trading while you’re sick is probably not a great idea. Nor is trading when you are feeling the burdens of family or job or whatever else might be putting stress on you and impacting your emotional balance.
Don’t be a hero. Your account equity with thank you.
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