@sandhu — the part about wasting screen time on series hits hard; I burned three weeks last quarter autopiloting into Netflix after a failed product launch. Built a tiny CLI tool (pg_dump splitter) that shaved 20% off our weekly backups — took 4 hours total and paid rent twice already. No fanfare, just one less manual step. If you’re trading terminals all day anyway, a 100-line Go script that spits out your P&L into Notion might give the same dopamine without the mood rollercoaster. I wrote up the dungeon-level steps here https://cxgo.ai/l/rzwOJnv if you want the boring parts nudged out of the way.

No crying in the casino.

first rule of gambling trading is to not risk $ you can’t stand to lose, don’t know how much capital you got in the game/what type of trading you partake in…but if it’s stressing you out then there is clearly something wrong with your risk management side of things

red days shouldnt matter at all, either it’s a buying oppurtunity on a longer swing/longterm pos you’ve done proper DD on or it’s short-term gamble you should have a stop-loss set for incase your wrong about the setup.

either way there should be zero emotion involved…as for the rest of your post, overall to me it sounds like your dopamine receptors are fried from constant gambling (going through something similar myself actually, biotech is like the blacktar heroin of this industry…with how insane the returns are on a W it’s hard to keep emotions in check)

to quote Livermore from over a century ago…

the desire for constant action irrespective of underlying conditions is responsible for many losses on Wallstreet even among professionals, who feel like they must take home some money every day as though they were working for regular wages

the entire point to figuring the casino out is to free yourself up from needing to work a job, obviously watching/worrying about charts all day isnt fulfilling. volunteer your time to something impactful locally, work on a passion project etc. live life, if you’ve figured out a (backtested) edge to the market you have beaten the first fucked up level that is capitilism

Cash out, stop trading, reclaim your life.

Trading is a choice, if it’s causing you stress, stop doing that.

If you’re actively stressed about price movement, trading is not just a side thing.

If your mood is dictated by market momentum, trading is not just a side thing.

You’re losing to the degree that you’re risking and you’re looking for a distraction because you genuinely believe you can and will change the outcome.

That only happens if you focus and make changes to your trading strategy.

It doesn’t benefit you to be in the market every day if you haven’t perfected your intraday strategy.

Discipline is key. Trade what works and manage your risk accordingly. If nothing works, don’t trade at all (trade on paper).

Good luck.

Are you just gambling (trading is a euphemism in this case, lol) for any more transcendental reasons than you just “getting the bag”? People like to feel useful, and there are few things one can do with their time that is less useful for society than this, you’re not providing the world with any goods or services! But I understand realistically you’re not gonna change your whole life and relationship with money up so I’d say, in this one month, you should start exploring why you’re alive (besides inertia/hedonism) because “grinding” (you’re “trading” not washing dishes in a busy restaurant, lol) leads nowhere and then you’ll realize you “wasted” not just 6 months but decades.

And ofc spend time and cherish your loved ones. If you have a month free and are not hurting for cash, travelling a bit or just spending quality time with those people is a good idea. 👍

Rule 5, though quitting gambling is generally sound advice.

If you had a genuinely free month, what skill would you actually spend it learning? Something practical, not just “learn to code” as a buzzword, but something that actually paid off for you personally.

I would exercise everyday. it would teach me so many things about my body that I’ve forgotten in the past year

Move your body, and get out into nature.

If you have to trade daily, find a beautiful (or at least somwhere green, or by a body of water) spot within maybe 30 min walking or biking distance and only check your trades in that spot. Perhaps hanging out in nature, having a little swim or dippingyour feet in the water, or picking some local berries on the woods, or listening to birds or dogs in the park, and then getting your heart rate up again before coming home will wash away some of the negative effects.

If your strategy allows it (or you can pivot your strategy), only check your trades every week or month instead of day.

For me, woodworking for almost every question. There’s a reason it’s the stereotype.

Grindset is not the mindset. Create art from your heart

In a single month? Apprentice level skills of any trade. Learning to change a faucet, fix a lamp or adjust the length of a pair of trousers are skills that will pay off long term an maybe motivate you to learn more.

I handed in my 3-month notice recently and have to take the rest of my vacation days and overtime before October. That amounts to about a month, although I’m not taking all of it in one piece.

I have booked a 5-day beginner course to learn Windsurfing for the end of the month, plus I warned my boss that for the month of August, I’ll be taking days off whenever the waves look good. That’s my dedicated “touch grass” hobby for this time period.

Other than that… I have a lot of programming stuff I want to learn, but only because I already program a lot. Zig and htmx are at the top of the list right now, but if I find the motivation I’ll be dabbling in Django and Angular as well (need them for my next job).

Otherwise, I’m not stressing about being productive or acquiring any “useful” skills. That kind of “constant self-improvement” mindset just doesn’t mix well with my existing burnout. Just surviving is a good enough goal imo

Honestly ? I’d dive into game development. It’s hard, there is little room for juniors but if i go indie, at least I’d do what my inner child always wanted to do