One of the pitfall I'm discovering is that I get impatient waiting for my setup that I start entering gambling trades that I should not have. I'm impatient and keep thinking about my next trade 24/7. Even though there is no need. The good thing about my job ia that it distract me from to market. However I'm afraid that when I quit I'll end up obsessing over the trades and will lead to overtrading and more losses. How do I learn to relax? Do I traders need hobbies?
You may not learn to relax any time soon. But you can learn to be disciplined. Set up rules on when you trade. Learn to stick to the rules even if you are biting your nails to do something.
Hypnosis After 25 years, I still keep a "Dumb" journal and write down non-system trades, I have learned how horrible I am as non system trader, it is generally based on being impulsive, I get feelings of missing out which I believe is form of jealousy? So it is much deeper in the mental aspects than trading, weaknesses I have/had, but through time your age says to yourself to just give up-throw hands up and accept, just too tired of fighting and my systems are far smarter than how I feel. You can/can't test easily your emotional trades, but I did find out I am so horrible at it, I have developed a system based on how horrible and it does well enough, plus when I had a feeling of buying something expensive, usually the extremes are in, LOL So learned to get out. Yea, I am like 95% wrong from trading on emotions.
How do you hypnotize yourself? Almost all my gambling trade has been losses while my setup trade have been good. Today I did six gambling trades that losses. My two setup trade would have wiped out my losses that is becoming a daily pattern. If I avoid any gambling trades and focus on my setup my win and profit will shoot up. Problem is most my good setup happen while I am at work. I'm trying to trade off hrs but it's not working.
Substitute banging your head against a wall for each bad trade and not banging your head for when you trade your setup. If you bang your head it hurts. When you don't bang your head it does not hurt. Pretty soon even a monkey learns not to bang their head. So are you smarter than a monkey? Seriously, would you do something repeatedly that you know is bad for you? Maybe an addiction would be that sort of thing but most people here I hope do not have an addiction. Are you a gambler? If you have that personality flaw you need to work on that because you are trading against what you know works because you are going for the Longshot big win. Work on yourself first. One more thing, find your setup on longer time frames so you don't trade off the daily or hourly chart whenot you can't do it while at work.
You have to go to one that Hypnotizes. Another way to stop doing non system trades is through physical pain, men usually only make changes in their lives when something else hurts them intensively. Example, use a cattle prod in your ***, electronically through landline, when you have a non system trade you text like one of the many on this site who line up to have this important job to push a button providing we all can watch on this site the results. So 6 non system trades you be texting "Sir, may I have another". You might ask site to get running list to have this important job of pushing the BIG button. Your next Post might read "Jinxu become World Class trader after one LONGGGGG button push" and the trader holding the button might get side gig of getting better results than Tharp and all the rest.
Take a look around, you probably will see a lot of people doing the same destructive thing over and over again
I'm going to assume from your post that you do have a system in place, and your problem, which is common, is that you feel the need for some extra action. You know, and I know, and everyone else with experience knows, that this is very destructive to successful trading. It will help to open a simulated account somewhere. Keep it open on your desktop. When you feel the need to trade outside your system, do it there, and not with your capital. Keep an honest and regular log of this account. Mark every trade, in and out, times and dates. Treat it just as seriously as you would your system. You'll find that it will draw your attention away from your system, and let you screw around on your own time. And who knows, you may find that you have some discretionary talent. But in any event, always keep the two accounts separated. (Or, you may prefer to hear this advice put another way, in a well-worn phrase: "Don't shit where you eat.")