Dilemma - what to do with your free time?

play fallout 3 non-stop between online poker sessions.
but my trading screen is always on and monitored and i check the news every hour or if there is some big movement.

Masturbate.
Don't laugh you all do it. You all know it's true you just
don't want to say it.

This sounds alot like me, and I rarely get bored. There's almost always something to do. The "chores" category can be very broad, and very discretional. I keep a "to do" list of projects / maintenance inside and outside the house, and read through it when I'm looking for something to do. I especially like getting outside for a couple hours for some physical work in the yard. It's a perfect way to offset several hours of sitting in front of a computer. I feel great afterwards. Other times it might involve trips here or there for "supplies" of some sort. It lets me get away and think of something else for awhile. Also gets the blood flowing.

With the weird hours I trade, naps can be really nice. So can occasional afternoon matinees at the local theater. I spend time messing around with misc hobbies like collecting and restoring things. I've been thinking about joining a gym, and also looking into charity work. Not sure if these will materialize or not, though. Sometimes they seem like good ideas, but other times more like additional expenses / responsibilities that I can do without. Life is pretty good the way it is.

Dear Tjpld,

You're crude. Please cut it out. I don't do it and I'm sure many others here don't either.

Lenoxer

There could be hundreds of different responses to this question as we are all different. I have traded full-time for several years and when I first made the switch from part-time to full-time I grappled with exactly this question. Initially, I traded multiple short-term timeframes and my screentime seemed to justify my "need to work" (at least in my mind) but as time went by I found myself trading the longer-term charts, like the daily and weekly because I found it more profitable than the shorter term charts. Consequently, I found myself spending less and less time in front of the charts................and whilst the money was nice, I became bored. Prior to full-time trading I had the 50 hour a week white collar job, and I actually started to feel a little guilty. Go figure?

Anyway, I realised that although I had made the lifestyle change I had not fully adjusted emotionally and mentally. I had started trading full-time with the immediate goal of freeing myself from the daily 9-5 grind and when I achieved that goal, at least financially, I had dropped into the goal-oriented mindset of "what's next".

Truth be known, I think I was missing the daily routine together with the social contact that a 9-5 job brings. Initially, the novelty of having loads of free time was great, but it diminished after several months. At the age of 44, I was not ready to adopt the "retired" mindset. So, I rebuilt a new life routine.

The first thing I did, was establish a dedicated trading room which looks and feels like a full blown office - no domestic stuff in there at all. So, when I enter I drop into a work/trading mindset immediately. Also, when I leave the office, I close the door because I have always believed its important to have actual separation between "work" and home-life.

These days, I only trade the 8hr charts which requires screen time 2-3 times a day and I find this TF to be very profitable and also frequent enough to "feel" like work, but not encroach on my "hard won" time. Previously, I used to exercise at night and now I exercise early afternoon and its great - no crowds at the gym. There is now plenty of time to take care of the other chores of life, such as grocery shopping, when convenient to me - no queues.

Pursuing a passion, be it a hobby, sport, cooking - whatever, is also important (for me at least). The passion I pursued during my "work" life was playing the piano, but I never seemd to be able to find the time to practice seriously - nowadays, late morning when the house is quiet, I practice for at least an hour and have finally been able to obtain the baby-grand I had always wanted. This was another important aspect for me, allowing myself the modest financial reward which underpinned the initial decision I had made to become a full-time trader.

Re-jigging the social life was pretty easy because of the reasonably large pockets of time available each day. I also spend an hour or so each day on forums to communicate with like-minded individuals - trading can be a lonely profession and forums are a great "virtual" office.

I generally enjoy the financial markets and I like staying abreast of pending news releases and articles, which seem to continue to develop my foundation and mindset as a full-time trader and I also seem to have a book on the go most of the time.

So, whilst the "lifestyle" has evolved for me, the changes did not come easily and it took some time to reach where it's at now. Being financially satisfied, happy, harmonious and stimulated is all part of the challenge, at least it was for me.

I suspect that each trader will have to work through this process in their own time to re-discover what actually works for them as an individual, but the good thing is you are not pressed for time whilst doing so and adjustments can be introduced at a time of your choosing - which is fundamentally why I became a full-time trader to start with.

I know I have rambled a bit but for me, this question was a huge part of my conversion from part-time to full-time and I hope by sharing some of my experiences, others who may be pondering the "switch" to full-time trading will gain some benefit.

tx for this informative reply Kristo

I don't need to trade to make a living but I study and trade like I have to because I love this business. I actually own a small business (and yes I like it that way have no plans on going big nope never no way) with three workers so I get to be In front of the computer more than most and play owner.. If I am not spending time with my wife and kids or fixing up something around the home (currently been working on the back yard for the last 2 months) I am usually hanging out at the house shooting pool with friends in the garage talking about sports stuff and enjoying life

It's very interesting to read about everyone's different approach. I too missed the day to day interaction with people and having somewhere to go every day, business lunches etc.

I sold my old business because I began to deteste it and love trading and went through the phase almost everyone's mentioning....."hey look at all my free time.....now what the heck do I do?" I volunteer at my boy's school from time to time and coach his hockey team and one thing I found fulfilling was tutoring other traders. Didn't seek out to do it, just one of those things that kinda happened.

But it still wasn't cutting it for me. I really missed being downtown in the corporate culture. I realized if I could tutor people to do what I do I can teach it to employee traders. More eyes on the screen = more trading of other pairs. (I only trade eur/usd and gbp/usd).

So I hired a GM, rented some office space and did a sort of "beta" test on 3 traders. 1 is now knocking it out of the park, one is about a 60% trader and the third is struggling a bit but he knows tech trading like the back of his hand. Just has some issues with pulling the trigger. He actually scored the highest in training and says he would rather teach newbies than trade. We have learned a lot and are now doing a 5 trader class and having fun.

The catch is because I work at 1.a.m. my local time to catch the London session, I still hardly get to see much of downtown save for a couple of hours of meetings here and there. But we are having fun with it and it's neat to see traders get good. Their confidence both at work and away from the office grows with every successful day.

Just in my nature to want to build. That entrepreneur in me I guess.

Thanks for everyone's posts. Hope it keeps going.

That brings up a good point tho...

For intra-day traders, how do you manage the difference in time zones?

I mean clearly you can't just trade the US session and ignore the EU/UK like you can w/ equities. So that means being up at strange hours, strange sleeping hours, seeing a lot less of the sun, etc. It would be difficult to do all of that w/ a family that has a fixed daytime schedule.

Hey Rabid how are ya? Thats what grandmas are for ...LOL

You're right. it is an adjustment. We have a 1 year old girl and a 6 year old boy. The good thing is I get to see my son right after school. I help him with homework and see the baby in the day as well and give my wife a chance to do whatever it is she wants to in the afternoon. After dinner everyone knows it's dad's bed time and I am in bed by 6 to get up around 12:30a.m. my time. Since I have been doing this (about 4 years 4 nights a week) I actually began to like it at 1 in the morning. No phones or emails etc. Just focus on the market. The only sad thing is I have watched wayyyyyy too many infomercials at those hours and bought junk that sits in a drawer!

On nights when I coach my son I get a little less sleep but will have a nap in the afternoon. I like to play myself but our ice times were always at night when I should be sleeping. Plus you always have to have a beer with the the guys afterwards! So I found a noon hour game 3 times a week.

I really didn't think it would work as well as it has but I really wanted it to because my income would go down almost 70% if I ignored London session. when you think of it all kinds of people have night jobs and you never think you can adapt until you do and I am glad I did. I am done my week by Friday at noon so that is a bonus as well.

Our new guys can't fathom it. But the guy I mentioned in my earlier post who is now knocking it out of the park consistently wouldn't have dreamed of it until he saw the opportunity and that it can work if you set your mind to it. Now he knows all the security guards in the building by name and has adapted his life after only a year of trading.

So if you really love this trading thing we do you can do it. Just takes a bit of a paradigm shift in your thinking and a few sleepless nights to get adapted and it works out.

Happy trading!

i play video games..

Excellent replies. Thanks to all for sharing. I still work 8 to 5, so I'm up at 2am to trade Europe and I trade Asia from 7 to 9pm. These are long days!! Looking forward to ditching the 8 to 5! You've given me plenty of hope that boredom can be overcome when I "arrive".

Dufus
With that kind of commitment you'll get there in no time. I recently read an article, I forget who wrote it. But he basically says there are a lot of talented people doing jobs they hate because talent only gets you so far. Education only gets you so far. It is perserverence and passion that gets you to succeed. Something like it takes 10,000 hours to get really good at something blah, blah. You get the point.

You'll just have to change your screen name when you do arrive!

I say drink heavily.

That works too clockwork. You'll never get bored that way....I think I'll grab a beer.

Reminds me of story -

I placed a EUR/USD long about 2 years ago, and went out with my friends. I got really, really, hammered and ended up coming home, and forgetting about this position.

I woke up with a hangover, and therefore didn't really think about this trade until the afternoon. When I checked it - I was up about 350 pips.

The moral is this: If you aren't watching the trade, you can't be there to screw it up.

Clockwork

Imagine if it had gone the other way? But you're right. We tend to get in our own way sometimes. It's the hardest thing to teach new traders because you can't teach it. Like the guy I mentioned earlier who scored highest in exams on tech trading but is struggling.

The 3 min (dif broker), 5 min, and 15's are my bread and butter for that very reason. What works for me personally is catching shorter term trends. Not my style to leave a trade for days. But that's just me.

I try to keep myself busy once in a trade but keeping an eye on it....like say going long about an hour ago and reading forums so I don't get out too early!!?

To each his own.

Being Friday clockwork, what's on the agenda for tonight? You've inspired me to buy a Heine keg and have the neighbours over!

- I volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, building houses.
- Go over free trading videos online (J16 guest section, and learningmarkets.com)
- keep up and contribute to an applicable thread on ff
- help out around the house (dishes, cooking, laundry, vacuuming)
- look to expand (learning new strategies and finding the pros/cons of it)
- Bible Study
- Naps
- Watch sports on tv

Just some of what I do in my spare time from trading and between chart intervals...

Josh

This is actually something i've been thinking about alot. I'm only part time at the moment but i worry if i'm ever good enough to go full time that the lack of personal interaction you get in other work environments might adversely effect me. I'm already introverted and worry i'll become a hermit or something

Volunteer work is something i would like to do. Anyone ever feel like you're not contributing anything to society with this profession? Maybe i'm just an emo...