It’s good to be focused and motivated, but it’s not good
to be so driven that you neglect truly important matters.
This is true no matter how long you’ve been trading or
how good of a trader you are. If you dismiss or neglect
what affects you as a person, you as the trader, you’re
asking for trouble and mistakes – and the losses that go
with them.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.
A good friend of mine is a full-time trader of nearly
20 years, does very well and has trading down to the
point that he has that feel for the markets that only
comes with long-term success as a trader.
I’ll refer to him as Kevin, but that’s not his real
name. I don’t want to embarrass him with this though,
because he wasn’t too proud when he told me about it.
Week before last, Kevin and I were on the phone, just
catching up on things.
Kevin was telling me how the day before, he probably
should have stayed home. He said he’d been sneezing and
coughing and generally feeling like crud. He hadn’t
slept well the night before and was pretty tired too.
I asked him how the day went in the markets, and that
was really the big issue. Because he was tired and
just feeling lousy, his mood was rather pessimistic.
This of course affected everything else, especially
his decision-making regarding his trades.
Because of his mood, he got out of two trades too
early because he was just ‘sure’ that they wouldn’t
run.
He missed out on four winners, because he felt that
they’d just turn out to be losers like on other
occasions when the market turned on him right after
getting in. But his system had done its job of
telling him to get in. He just was in too bad of
a mood to believe he had a winner.
After those, then he was kicking himself and he
decided it was time for some payback, so he again
ignored his system and jumped in while he was riled
up, even though there was no entry signal. Another
mistake – and quick loss of $400.
By the end of the day, he’d cut himself out of $1,100
in profits getting out too early, missed out on what
would have been another $1,800 by not getting in, and
just plain lost another $400.
He might as well have stayed in bed.
Now the point here really isn’t to avoid trading. You
trade to make money and you do have to show up to do
that.
Just like any other activity of importance, you want
preventive measures in place. You want to have problems
averted, just plain not come up at all if possible.
You see, Kevin’s problem is that he does take very good
care of himself.
His diet is marginal.
He stays up late and shorts himself sleep.
He never gets any exercise.
He doesn’t even take any vitamins to help make up for the
rest.
Now, I like my sweets and other marginally healthy food
too. Plus I have three kids and I’m a natural night-owl
(I always have been a night person, NOT a morning person),
and I certainly don’t get as much exercise I should at my
age. I do however take my vitamins every day, along with
concentrated natural antioxidants.
You may be like me, where your health is generally okay.
The main thing is to stay ahead of the game, to do the right
things BEFORE a problem arises.
The frequency that I get sick is pretty low, plus I do
enjoy pretty reasonable health and good spirits the great
majority of the time.
As a result of my “compensating” by taking antioxidants, I
rarely have bad days like Kevin did.
When it comes to health, the best defense is a good
offense. Besides, powerful antioxidants help your
body do what it is built to do: fight-off germs, heal and
be healthy.
The main thing I like about taking my vitamins and the
extra antioxidants is that I don’t have to make any major
changes in my lifestyle.
I don’t have to go to the gym.
I don’t have to try to become a morning person.
I can still eat what I like, knowing that I’m giving my
body what it needs.
I feel good and function well when I need to be at my
best.
Besides, I plan on being around for many years to come.
I want those years to be fun and enjoyable, not sitting
around waiting to die. I’ve read in quite a number of
places over the years that antioxidants fight what
makes you age and makes your body robust against
disease and degeneration.
A few of my favorites, in addition to my regular
once-a-day vitamins, I take:
Extra Vitamin C, of course
Grape seed extract
Bilberry extract
Acai berry extract
I hadn’t heard of the last one until recently.
I’ve got this one neighbor who has alway been a bit
of a hypochondriac. Not too long ago, I noticed that
she didn’t have her usual list of complaints, plus
she didn’t look as miserable as she used to either.
This was weird, and it got my attention.
She told me about this blend of berry juices that
she’d run across, so I checked it out, and it was
pretty pricey, but I did research the product to
see what was in it that made it work so well.
I read that this juice she was carrying on about
has juices from 19 or 20 berries and other fruit,
but the main benefits are from one primary
berry in the blend: the Acai berry.
It’s reported to be an even more powerful antioxidant
than the grape seed, and has other health benefits
as well, so I decided to give it a try.
Now I don’t buy the juice blend she does. They
charge a bit much for the juice, so I hunted around
until I found the Acai berry extract in capsule form
and at a much better price.
I always look at what a month’s supply is going to be,
and this alternative is about 67% less than the juice
and a higher concentration.
I consider this small investment in myself a very good
one. A couple minutes a day and the antioxidants are
a whole lot cheaper than bad days.
Now, no matter how old you are, how well you eat and
how much exercise you get, take good care of yourself.
Trading can be very taxing and you really do need to
be at your best to make the most of it.
Cheers
Brian
P.S. If you’d like to find out more about the Acai
berry extract that turned my 55 year-old hypochondriac
neighbor into happy and feeling good, you can check
out the much cheaper alternative source that I found
here,
http://insideouttrading.com/go/acai.html
P.P.S. Trading is challenging, and at times can be
very stressful as you know. I go the extra mile for
myself, because I want the most out of all I do.
Whether you do the same, or simply take once-a-day
type vitamins, do take care of yourself.
Make sure that you give yourself the advantage of
good health so that you stay at the top of your
game. Your account balance will thank you for it!