Categories
Forex Psychology

Avoiding Burnout While Trading Forex

Forex trading can be stressful. Anyone that tells you otherwise just won’t have come across one of their bad patches yet. Every single time you trade you are being put in front of a number of different stressful situations, as they begin to build up it can cause stress, frustration, and ultimately causes burnout.

I am sure that there have been times in your life when you have been doing something repeatedly and you end up thinking that you can’t really be bothered to do this or that it is incredibly boring. This is often referred to as burnout and it is quite common amongst forex traders, especially if things haven’t quite been going the way you intended it to.

600x600

The good news is that there are ways to avoid or at least reduce the effect that it can have on you, it is important to recognise the signs and put into place some things that can help you to relax and unwind, otherwise, a burnout could cause a complete loss of motivation or even trading mistakes that could cost you money.

Spot the Signs Early

It is often quite hard to spot when you are going through a tough spot, a lot of the time it is normal for you, so it is important that you are able to recognise the signs of burnout coming up so you can quickly do something to help alleviate the issues. You can spot these early signs by asking yourself a few questions, they are quite straight forward but the more that you answer yes to, the more likely you are on your way to burnout.

  • Do you have feelings of self-doubt?
  • Do you question why you are trading?
  • Are you suffering from headaches?
  • Are you still sticking to your strategy?
  • Are you eating more or less?
  • Are you drinking alcohol more often than usual?

Ask yourself, if just one is yes, then take a break, if more than one is yes, then you may be on your way to mental burnout.

Take a Break

This is a simple step to take, simply step away from trading, for a day, 2 days, a week, whatever you think is necessary for you to alleviate some of that stress or thoughts of self-doubt, use this time away from trading to exercise eat healthily and simply clear your mind of trading and the stresses that come with it.

Think Back to the Start

What we mean by this, is to think back to when you started trading, the excitement that it brought, the new experiences, and the feeling of learning something new and being able to implement that into your trading strategies. Use that feeling that you had, use it to help kickstart your own passion for trading, this will help you to focus on some of the better and more positive sides of trading rather than the stressful ones that have put you into your current situation.

Find a Friend

This can be taken in two ways, you could look for someone outside of trading to speak to or to simply spend time with, time with others is a great way to get rid of stress, as long as you like them that is. Then there are trader buddies, these are people who also trade that can be there to discuss what is going on, the good thing about having a friend that also trades is that they will have also experienced the exact same things that you are now going through, they will be understanding and may even have tips on how they avoided or got out of a burnout situation.

Get Pampered

Complete relaxation and clearing of your mind, a little similar to taking a break, but this time it is all about you, you need to do something that you enjoy, whether that is a massage or a game of tennis. Think about you, cater to your own needs and loves, this is a fantastic way to reduce the risk of burnout as it clears your mind of the issue and you gain that adrenaline and euphoria of doing something that you truly enjoy.

Ask for Help

Do not be afraid to ask for help, if you go into burnout and still try to stick with it, it can be damaging not only for your trading account but for your overall physical and mental health. The worst thing you can do is try and push yourself through it. There are people around, both friends and professionals who have been trained for this sort of thing, there is no harm or shame in asking them for a little bit of help, in fact, it is strongly encouraged. The good thing about talking to professionals is that they know all the signs and they also know a lot of things that could be causing them, in fact, you may discover that your burnout is nothing to do with trading at all and is instead something that you have locked away inside or didn’t even think of as stressful.

Being able to recognise the signs and then take control of them is the key to avoiding and getting out of burnouts, it is not a good place to be but there are things that you can do to help avoid them and there is also help available out there should you need it. It is something that we all go through so it is nothing to be ashamed of, look after yourself and then you will be able to look after your trading.

970x250

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *