I Want to Take a Break from Trading – Is This Normal ?

Recently, in our FB group, a trader asked me a question: “Is it okay if I do not trade for a couple of weeks? Won‘t I lose my skills? “.

It prompted me to write this post. Today we will talk about the importance of taking breaks in trading, work, business …. in any activity) I will tell you how to work properly, how to rest more effectively, how often to take a vacation, why people are not robots and how to activate the secret weapon of our brain - Default Mode Network.

The more you work, the better, isn‘t it?

Being busy is trendy.

Imagine a trader who studies upcoming news and fundamental analysis for today at breakfast, then trades before lunch, during lunch he watches video lessons on trading or reads books on psychology or programming, if he needs to get out somewhere, on the way he listens to audiobooks or training, during the day responds to several dozens of emails and social media messages, checks robots on VPS, etc.

What do you think about it? Is he super effective?

Not at all. He is a creative impotent. A robot. Dreary office shit. He cannot come up with any NEW sensible idea, only perform routine functions.

Why? Because WE ARE NOT ROBOTS. The behavior model described above is effective for a computer, for an android, but not for Homo Sapiens. We have other algorithms.

Scientific research

If you think that working a lot and being super effective will lead you to success, then I hasten to disappoint you. That bullshit, which is taught in training of personal effectiveness, will make you only a more effective slave, performing routine tasks. This will not help you much, because, in the future, similar workers will be replaced by automated devices.

If you are the same as me, too logical and you can only be convinced by scientifically proven facts, here is a list of scientific studies, the general conclusion of which is simple: having a rest is necessary and working for many hours a day is not the best idea…

• http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691612447308
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123705099001819
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1556407X10001220
• https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.2384.epdf
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494487800312
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19691365
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10608-007-9119-0
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810009000828
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19427210
• https://hbr.org/2009/10/making-time-off-predictable-and-required
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15586782

How cool ideas appear

To come up with cool ideas, you need a lot of free time. And more precisely, the time when you are not engaged in your main activity.

Everyone who plays video games from time to time is familiar with the following situation: in the evening you reached a difficult stage of the game (for example, the Boss), you try many times - you just cannot pass this stage in any way. In the end, you leave this venture and go to bed. The next day, when you sit down again to play… you pass the stage almost at the first attempt.

Do you think this is an accident? No. This is the work of the so-called Default Mode Network (further - DMN). It’s this thing that allows us to solve complex problems and generate cool ideas.

The fact is that when we are not doing anything, we do something that does not require attention, for example: we use public transport, wash dishes, brush our teeth, walk along the street - our brain switches to a passive mode of work and processes the available information on the issue that we care about. But we are not aware of this)

We all know the feeling that the idea came “out of nowhere” when we were taking a shower or walking in the park. Richard Bach even called this phenomenon a “shower fairy” and “walk fairy”. In fact, no fairies exist, and the ideas that came to us during activities that do not require active attention are the result of brain work. And this is no miracle, but a feature of our brain, which we should use.

For those who think that this is nonsense, here is a scientific research:

• http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691612447308
• http://www.sciencemag.org/content/311/5763/1005.full
• http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/10/18/1710521114

A small video explaining the operation of the Default Mode Network:

So how to activate the “secret weapon” of our brain?

1. First, you need to get the necessary amount of information on the issue that interests you. Otherwise, the brain will have nothing to work with. For example, study some strategy on the forum, reading a 100 pages. This is more than enough!
2. You shouldn‘t worry about anything: you should not rush to work/meetings, you should not have a list of a thousand things to do, a million unanswered business messages, etc. That is, it should be the so-called “free time”, ideally - a day off;
3. Engage in some routine activities - perhaps, put things in order in the garage, take a walk in the park, go to the gym, run on the track (you shouldn‘t watch/listen to anything that requires attention), etc. And, what’s important, NOT THINKING ABOUT THE PROBLEM at all;
4. Information will be digested, understanding and/or some ideas will come;
5. Profit 🙂

The scheme is not perfect, it doesn‘t work “in order”. But it works. And yes, to make DMN activated more often, you need a lot of free time. This is how our brain works, whether you like it or not.

Yes, by the way, there are studies that prove that regular meditation helps to strengthen the work of DMN.

Therefore, if you suddenly consider yourself ineffective, when you are not engaged in anything “on business”, think twice.

How to work correctly

The middle of the working day. About 2-3 o’clock in the afternoon you feel tired, the brain is already not working as active as in the morning and you want to take a nap…

This is normal? Of course. All of us to a more or less conscious age were taught to sleep at night and to stay awake all the day. But this is not the best habit for our mental health and this is not how our ancestors did.

People in the preindustrial era, when there was no electricity, fell asleep about 8 pm, then at about 2 am they woke up for a couple of hours, engaged in creativity, smoked, copulated, went on a visit to neighbors …. and then went to bed again until the morning (more details can be found in the book of A. Roger Ekirch At Day’s Close: A History of Nighttime).

A similar story occurs during the day. The fact is that our brain prefers to fall asleep and wake up more often than once a day. From 14 to 16 hours - the so-called “Nap Zone”, a time interval ideally suited for daytime sleep. It is known that the ancient Romans loved to take a nap in the first century BC, they called Meridiani, then they called it Sexta (the sixth hour, according to their time), but the word Sexta eventually transformed into Siesta. Anyone who has been to Spain knows that during the siesta in the middle of the day almost nothing works - everyone is having rest.

In China, workers, sleep for about half an hour in the afternoon. If you are a Chinese and you had a nap after a lunch in the workplace - no one will fire you or give a fine.

A lot of studies show the positive effect of a short sleep during the day. It improves concentration, mindfulness, you can do more things.

An interesting fact: the most effective sleep is the 10-minute nap. After it, you won‘t have a period of “drowsiness”, as after 20-30 minutes, and at the same time, it gives the same positive effect as after a half-hour rest.

Let‘s move on. A 30-year study of outstanding people in their fields - musicians, athletes, writers, etc. gives us the following interesting keys.

Key number 1: it is possible to show outstanding results at the limit of possibilities only about an hour without rest. It’s worth taking note for the scalpers, who are closely following the market. Hour traded - take a break.

Key number 2: people who achieve outstanding results in their disciplines on average practice/train about 4 hours a day. Increasing the load time only leads to burnout and injury (in the case of athletes). Therefore, to trade in the amount of more than 4 hours a day - it makes little sense.

And of course - the most effective interval is from the morning to lunch. If you have any business that requires the utmost care and concentration - it is better to do it in the morning.

Summarizing all of the above:

• Do the most important thing in the morning;
• It is possible to work hard, at the limit of opportunities for about an hour without rest - do not hesitate to take small breaks;
• Practicing in trading/music/sports is meaningless for longer than 4 hours a day;
• It is good to find 15-20 minutes of time for a short nap between 2 and 4 pm;
• It is better to have dinner, not at home - go to the nearest restaurant, during this time your DMN will be activated a couple of times (read above in the block about ideas). And, please, do not stare at the smartphone while eating.

P.S. Important remark - if you‘re on fire and you are wildly preoccupied with something, you do not need to stop. If you are excited about testing a new system until 1 am, this is a good sign)

How to rest properly and how often to take vacations

The best way to rest is something involving physical and mental activity, with a deep immersion in the process. For example rock climbing, drawing, golf (for good reason, Donald Trump recommends it in one of his books).

The task is to completely disconnect and not to think about routine/work/trading, etc.

Of course, if you are wildly tired - sleep, watch movies, TV shows, play video games. When you simply don‘t have power, this also fits.

I won‘t mention regular physical exercises here - everyone already knows that this is vital. The only thing- the next time you go to pull the bar, you know - originally the human body was created to run away from the cheetah and climb the apple tree, and all the diseases associated with the joints appeared in the agrarian era, when people began working on land with a back up and carry heavy water tubs. And, perhaps, it is worth focusing more on athletics, instead of playing with weights.

With regard to vacation - in general, scientists agree that it should ideally be about one week every three months. Hard work or trading without days off and holidays will lead only to health problems. You will not earn all the money in the world anyway…

Conclusion

I understand perfectly that not everyone can apply the above recommendations. But if this post made you even think about how important rest and breaks in work and trading are - it means I didn’t write it in vain. I myself thought for a long time that being constantly busy is cool, even sometimes I felt guilty during weekends or holidays when I did nothing “on business”, but as it turned out, I shouldn‘t feel guilty about anything - productivity is simply impossible without rest and breaks.

Remember: the market will not disappear tomorrow. And if you feel that you want to take a break from trading for a day/week/month - go for it. Nothing terrible will happen, even on the contrary - during this time you will surely come up with new, cool ideas on how to improve your trading.

Regards, Michael

ForexTraderPortal.com