Spring was hectic. This year I was School Site Council Chair, PTA Secretary, and a GATE parent volunteer. I managed to teach 2 classes at the art college. The big kids eeked out 2 activites each over the course of 3 months. The baby started school for the very first time complete with her first extracurricular activity too. Hubby and I did a high five after the last ballet recital. The school year is officially over! So happy for the kids because it has been a great year. Lots of growth in us this year.
I say all that because it’s no surprise that this hectic schedule has forced me to trade slow. Slow and deliberate. More so than I ever have. And I found that there is a peace in not rushing trades. Trades are now limit orders triggered by my rules. And once set, I am free to watch the market however I choose: at my computer, in a meeting, during the boy’s basketball practice or the girl’s art class.
The high-energy of active day trading has very little appeal anymore. Instead, checking price becomes a check on the chart rather than a check on my trades. That subtly in grammar is also the subtly in psychology that has really helped my trading. The chart is a 3rd person. My trade is very personal and very 1st person. Personal matters tend to be emotional whereas we can all can detach from a 3rd party’s issues because they are not our own. As a trader, markets work when it becomes less about me and more about it.
The timing of my slower trading is not lost on me. The kids are back home full time. The whirlwind of winding up a school year is one I more appreciate now as a teacher and parent than when I was a student. The seasons have changed and, quite naturally, my trading changed with it. Trading is certainly a marathon, not a sprint. If you are in it for the quick thrills you probably can’t stay at it long enough to truly be rewarded. The longer I do this the more I understand that. Now I have entered a season in which I am truly living that out.
TRADE SLOW — my new mantra.
