I’m rarely bored. I hardly ever bump around not knowing what to do with myself but on the odd occasion that I do, it’s usually when I’m sitting behind my laptop, putting off some tedious chore.
There are moments then that I find myself doing virtual bog laps like an online teenage bogan, cruising from my email to Twitter to Facebook to forums to my blog hoping to catch someones attention as I pass by. Desperate for some kind of entertainment, action, or even better interaction; or, if the day would be so kind, a dose of inspiration.
It’s in those moments of shameful boredom that, failing to connect with people, I find myself turning to the markets.
Here’s a tip - in those sad, sad moments when you have no friends on facebook, the market will not be your friend either.
Oh, it might do a good job entertaining you while it numbs your brain with its flashing lights and entices you to enter numerous boredom-fuelled trades. But it won’t be your friend.
The disappointing thing is that before you know it you’ve blown a wad of cash, are feeling slightly queasy from way too much inertia and can’t wholly remember how things managed to deteriorate so quickly.
Go DO Something!
Usually when I find myself spending more than 1 minute on Facebook, I mentally slap myself and go do something productive. To me, anymore than 60 seconds worth of friend-stalking is wasted time where I could actually be doing something that makes a difference. (I’m not even talking about a world-changing difference here – taking a shower counts, too.)
And the same thing goes for market-stalking. It’s important to stop killing time stalking those charts you don’t trade. Stop checking the 5 minute price chart of your long-term investments. And most of all, stop looking for that sure-fire-off-the-cuff trade that will ruin your discipline and savage your account balance.
Can you imagine what you might achieve if you added up all the wasted stalking time you do, and actually did something instead? It’s possible that your life could end up totally unrecognisable. At a bare minimum at least you’d be cleaner.
Have a Go.
So here’s a challenge for you.
Go and pick something you’d like to do better, or start learning, or create, or achieve. Then, everytime you find yourself cruising the markets (or Facebook for that matter) for entertainment, mentally kick yourself and immediately do something to take you a step closer to your ‘thing’. Even something tiny like writing down an idea, or reading a ‘thing’-related blog counts.
Go do it. I bet those baby-steps won’t look so baby-like after 10 years.
