I speak to traders that spend every waking hour focused on trading. While this may be fine for some it is not for me, I know this because I used to be that guy. I originally became interested in trading because I dreamed of being rich and having the time to do what ever I wanted. I have a compulsive nature to begin with and I hunger for knowledge. This combination led me to work constantly, to learn more about trading. I maintained a full time job and studied trading strategy at night, often until midnight only to get up the next day at 4:30 A.M. to go to work. Studying the markets were a 7 day a week thing for me. This went on for a couple of years. From time to time I would personally meet other traders and met some through the net. Over time I noticed that some traders did not obcess over trading the way I did. Most did but a handful did not.I thought that one day if I worked hard enough I would be like them. Then one day I met a man that changed my thinking. Through our discussions about trading I realized that he started about the same time as myself. He did not have as much experience as I had and it was apparent that his knowledge of the markets was not as extensive as myself. The curious thing was that he traded only 2 hours per day and did not work any other job. The rest of his time he played golf and spent time with his family. I questioned him in hope that he would share his secret trading formula with me. To my surprise he did not have a secret weapon for trading markets. Instead he had a secret weapon for life in general. ENJOY IT!! That day I realized that I had lost sight completely of my original goal which was to have more time. I had ran completely in the opposite direction. Instead of trading freeing from a job it had become more of a job than my actual job was. My percentage of winning trades was not where I wanted it to be and thought that I could study my way to a better percentage. After talking with him I decided to take a break from trading and come back with a new perspective. When I again started to trade I only allowed myself to spend 2 hours per day on trading. I was much more relaxed and I traded less often. This turned out to be great, my win percentage went up because I was more selective in my trades and I was not stressed out about everything. Today I enjoy life much more and trading is what I thought that it could be.... Thanks Robert
next.... Shadow trader
