Trading is an awesome way to make a living. If you are successful, then you are able to spend a little more money here and there, buy bigger homes, send you kids to better schools, and of course, enjoy all the lifestyle perks of financial success. How about vacations? When was the last time you took one? When was the last time you left the market completely alone and didn't even think about it?
There is a reason why vacation time is a vital part of negotiating any job position. Without vacations, we wither up and start to resent the very avenue that brings us success. Without a vacation, we become burn outs hating our lifestyle as much as our job. Without vacations, we never reconnect with the important things in life, the things that brought us to trading in the first place. Didn't we want our kids to see more of the world while they were growing up? Didn't we want bigger and better for our significant other? Without vacations, we don't get a chance to really fully enjoy the things that we set out to accomplish.
For the trading mind, a break from the stress is part of staying on top of your game. Without vacations, our lives become so entangled with trading, we may very well start to lose our edge. Losing our edge creates poor trades and poor decisions.
The logistics of taking a vacation can be handled with a little preplanning, flexibility, and in some cases a trust worthy individual. Leaving your positions open and deciding to monitor your existing trades while you are away is an option, but not a very good one. You are supposed to be giving the trading mind a break and reconnect with those other things in life that excite you.
Checking in with your "work day" while off on vacation is cheating yourself and your family out of your vacation. It is better to just close out your positions and accept that the market will endure without your participation for a week or two. You can reopen your positions upon your return and start from there. Whatever happens while you are off is just part of life, and if you feel as though you missed out on an opportunity, you need to remind yourself of how many opportunities we get to spend with people we love and experiences we have that are not connected to the trading world.
In some cases, you can ask a trustworthy trading friend to keep an eye out for you, assuming that you aren't going to take up too much of his or her time during the day. However, you are going to have to either completely trust their objectives or believe that they will act in your best interest and you would have to accept their decisions, even of they cost you.
If you aren't comfortable with that, then you shouldn't ask. While you can explain what your objectives are with your positions, you are also asking someone to do you a favor, and the timing might not be perfect. You might get close but not perfect. Reacting poorly to their decisions can cost you a good friend, and good friends are harder to find than good investments.
Vacation time is a vital part of living. Without them we tend to get stuck in ruts, we resent our time, and we miss out on valuable opportunities. We only get one shot at our time on this bright blue planet and we shouldn't spend all of our time with out nose to the grindstone. It's just not healthy.
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91
Date Published :
Dec 17 2008