The other side of my brain: emotions.

I haven't commented on the other side of my brain lately, the emotional side. Emotionally, I am trying to stay focused and relaxed. I am not trying to force the trade, and am just watching the market action and the news flow, and then responding in a manner that is consistent with my beliefs and my plan.

For 12 years, I sat in front of my trading screens nearly all day, and had very good success for the first nine. The last three were quite difficult though. Now that I am working in IT during the trading day, I check the market around 8am, and again around 6 pm, and once in a while will check in during the day. Overall, I am no longer caught up in the action and the drama of the day. I am much less likely to get in or out of trade because of shorter term jiggles or news flow. I think this has helped me maintain a longer term focus.

I have also noticed that the 'edge of my seat' anxiety that I used to feel while watching markets intraday, has been greatly reduced. It is still there to some degree, but the volume level has definitely been turned down. At this time, it feels better to trade in this particular manner.

I am reading a great book, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman. The author does a fantastic job in describing in laymen terms how lower level neural functioning significantly shapes how we perceive the outer world as well as how we make decisions based on our inner world processing, with much of this activity taking place at subconscious levels.