I been ill for 12 years, so I spent usually 80 hours plus trading or related study during that time. February was cleared to do as I please. Once automated, staying focused has also lead to being so much less wanting to be working on any new areas of study. Just burned out again and traveling everywhere anywhere wind takes me. My risk management certainly greatly improved past 12 years, drawdowns seem can't get any lower, but am sure eventually new ideas will come. Just tired at looking at small lines of a chart, going out to small the roses. I also think I just ran out of challenges, it always been me against me, I just feel worn out.
Thank you for the input and ideas. Short term I spent last night working through some of this and coming up with a couple of at least temporary changes partly as a result of what I read here. First example is right now, I'm taking a break from the markets. I still have the charts open, but essentially not looking for a trade. I know based on my stats that at this point of the day I have made roughly 90% of my day, and that has been consistent over the last 10 years of recording trades. I think I see some of the issue causing the feeling of burnout. Starting in 2007 I was more or less taking care of my parents until my Dad passed in 2011. I would work in the morning and then run over to their house and either just visit or help out with whatever was needed. I'd be back after lunch to finish my day at work, and then onto kid related activities. 2011 the oldest started high school and a year later the youngest started club soccer which meant an endless amount of things to keep me occupied. sometimes during the day, but for sure after I was done. All the kids were in sports year round and gave me something to go to or help with, i.e.. coaching or being the team bus as most other parents were still at work. After the 2018 club soccer season and summer baseball that all pretty much went away. The youngest passed on a couple of opportunities to play college soccer to go into the trades and moved out with a friend. All three kids were out of the house and although 2 are over fairly often they have their own lives now and other than occasionally golfing, are on their own. In the fall of 2018 the wife was diagnosed with a health issue that although not life threatening in the short term does have an impact on her ability to live a normal life. Throw in she works in health care and they are experiencing cut backs while at the same time she is putting in 60-80 hour weeks, and she is stressed out which is in no way good for her. Selfishly this also stresses me out, which until I sat and thought about I have been ignoring. This is part of the reason cutting my income to go into something else doesn't seem realistic, at the same time if she can't work or ends up on the cut list, we need health benefits. One of the drugs she is taking runs $10,000/month out of pocket after discounts if we had to get it on our own. Somewhat in conclusion at this point I think I see some of the issue is stress of the current situation, and a change in the home dynamic that gave me other things to do either during the day or at least at the end of the work day, and I looked forward to watching the kids do their things, and felt good helping my parents. Now I have let myself slip into a mode of not knowing what to do with my extra time. As stupid as it is I am having a hard time figuring out things to do. I have started doing a programming course on Coursera, and that kills some time, but still need to get off my ass and get a hobby going as has been pointed out. I may get back into flying as that is something I love, but was put on the back burner with kids, the wife being in and out of school and taking care of my parents. Another option is a vacation. We haven't been on a vacation since a trip to England 5 or 6 years ago as part of a club soccer training program. So yes, a vacation is needed. For the person who said "you aren't making money, and that's why you aren't happy", sorry but I haven't had a significant drawdown in a very long time in my income accounts, and actually enjoy the days when I have to get my bacon out of a hole. I seem to get more clarity and focus on those days. Again thanks for the thoughts, and I feel like I need to apologize for being a whiner. I guess it is one benefit of the internet, I can piss and moan, and shower myself in selfish self pity for the most part anonymously. Peace
@tango29, When you are feeling sick and tired of doing the same old things day in day out, step back and reflect on what you have accomplished. Count your blessings when you feel down and out: 1. You are able to make a good living, raise a family by trading and could keep going by choice. Most who work a day job cannot say the same. 2. You are blessed to have a great family. 3. You have flexible hours, meaning if you need to take off, you can. You don't have to deal with coworkers, no office politics, no bosses, no subordinate headaches, no schedules to meet, no customers yelling at you... What's not to like? From the great responses you received, there are many on ET making a good living trading. The brotherhood, the camaraderie, the diversity and the joy they displayed are amazing. Those who said 99% of traders failed just haven't come across successful traders yet since most of you don't brag about your successes. Life is good and flexible. If I want, I can trade traveling up Interstate 5, touring the Far East or on a cruise in the Caribbeans. No way could I do that while holding a day job. I am very thankful and content.
This is the perfect place to whine!! Many of us are like you and trade alone at home. My wife, like yours, is now stuck working from home with a much higher stress from her increased workload. Wanting to get her retired, and seeing her work so hard all day while now at home, has led me to increase my trading so I can replace her income. This has gone on since early March. My trading is normally slow and steady and hardly ever with daytrades but my trading time has increased a lot and I'm having to give a good hard look at where I want my trading to go. This past week I suffered the largest drawdown I have had in 10 years and it was all due to a stupid mistake likely due to over-trading as I work to scale up. Mentally it was painful and it is getting me to re-look at what I want my long term to be. in the past I would say take a month or 2 off which I have done in the past when life got in the way of my trading time. Like you, I'm thinking about taking on some hobbies that would get me out of the house and have some me time since I have been cooped up at home with 4 teens and taking care of parents too. Then I think certainly this crisis will come to an end sometime. Exercise is the the only thing keeping me from going mad. I swim every morning, bike 3x a week and hit the gym the other days. It has helped a lot. Sometimes I think my brain is most productive on those long bike rides and swims. There it is... I have been over-trading and I don't have the results to justify the time I am putting in. For me I am going to start thinking with the end in mind. When my wife is retired I want my trading to be organized and scheduled like it was before covid and she was working at home all the time. Maybe I feel I need to trade more since she is working so much more? Ok, now I'm whiner too. Good luck. I hope you make the changes that make you happy.
Exercise is what helps me keep it together also. My wife notices when I miss a few days in a row that I'm a bigger pain in the ass than usual. I work out in the evening and have been for years, but am thinking moving it to the morning maybe the way to go to help with my mindset. I know at night after I work out I have the best frame of mind all day. I'm sure it has to do with endorphins or whatever it is, but it is noticeable to me at least, and has been to the wife. I also did follow through the rest of this week and took a break after the morning portion. I didn't necessarily walk away completely, but committed to ignoring the charts and computers during the off time. Somewhat better and at least on Friday I had a good afternoon. I am wondering if making most money early in the day hasn't been a function of losing focus by the end of the day from too much screen time. The flexibility has been very beneficial to taking care of family matters, and wouldn't have been there with a regular job. I do have a great family and I think I lost sight of that maybe. Partly this is due to the ability to be there when needed as a result of this work and it is good to be reminded. I have to say the last job I was at, the boss I had immediately over me was fantastic. No college degree, but smarter and wiser than most MBA's I ve come across over the years. At the same time working at the company had a lot of the drawbacks mentioned and I don't miss them in the least. I wasn't good with politics or saying what you were supposed to, and neither was my boss so we got along great, but I don't think it went over too well with upper management. Figuring out a vacation is a step I'm working on, even it if is just shutting down for a week and screwing off. Again thanks for the input.
My comment is be careful trying to change your routine. Most of us after a while settle into a steady state (hopefully a profitable one), it is very dangerous to break that routine because any perturbation of our method usually means starting another learning stage, even something as simple as scaling up, because, a simple scaling up (more frequency or bigger bets), if you are familiar with Kelly, may exceed your Kelly and increase risks. Been there done that.
You are spot on. I kept my steady income stream trade on but tried to add in additional day trading that I normally don't do. My position size was fine but I did put too many trades on and it was more than I usually manage. The over-trading led me to make an entry mistake in my steady trade that i will punish myself for. JV error. I will be making the appropriate adjustments and focusing on my strengths.
Been there too. Started out as a passive value investor in 2005, and did really well. Lost my day job in 2013, and started day trading, and had a mix of winning and losing years. In 2017, fatigue was setting in so I started to cut back, and picked up a hobby, 3D modelling (open source, Blender). After a few frustrating stops and starts with 3D, I became hooked, and in mid 2018, I transitioned to growth trading with minimal screen time, and spent the next two years working on my first short animated film/video. I still keep a close eye on the markets, and periodically take low risk, put option positions. But now I sleep a lot better at night. Cheers!
Just move to the long term. Then make a dopamine detoxication. Afterwards, spend more and more time on hobbies. (search for the new ones, whatever, animal shelters, making houses in the trees, painting, guitar, mountain climbing - you name it) Also, be sure to know , which type of a personality you're leaning more to - introvert or extrovert. And if you're a creative one, it's obvious, why it is killing you. Doesn't matter how good of the job, if you put one like that, where you have to follow certain rules (be it your own) and discovery game is gone - dead end, amen.
Burnout point does not come instantly, it comes over a long period of time and it will affect you mentally, physically and emotionally. So you need to be careful about your trading plans and stop at the right time, take help from others if you are in trouble since seeking help will lead you to figure out some solution and the most important thing is to take things easy and in a calm way.