Trading & Investing in financial markets is now easier than ever for retail traders with financial markets open 24 * 7. Don’t be surprised if you will feel burnt out at some point as Trading & Investing can be hazardous to your wealth and also health!

Here are the most important questions and answers you need to know about trading / investing burnout which can help you to handle burnout better and maybe avoid it!

Q: What is burnout?
A: Burn-out is chronic stress and is characterised by a person’s feeling of complete physical & mental exhaustion, negativism/cynicism towards one’s job and reduced professional efficiency. World Health organisationrecently added occupational burn-out to the 11th revision of The International Classification of diseases to guide medical practitioners!

Q: What is the difference between Stress and burnout?
A: Stress is a shorter-term symptom and it is mainly an inability to cope with pressure/overload. Burnout happens over a longer-term resulting in a negative mental state/disillusionment.

Q: What behaviours in your trading/ investing journey can cause burnout as you are participating in Financial Markets?
A:

• Investing/trading real money without a plan/ strategy or with unrealistic expectations/goals – i.e without why, what and how.
• Spending too much time in front of the monitor/screen (s) for no purpose or reason.
• Not handling short-term stress-related symptoms.

Q: What are typical symptoms of burnout?
A:
Although burnout and stress symptoms differ from person to person, Below are some of the typical symptoms most traders and investors experience:

• Negative feelings/cynicism/pessimism towards markets, family and friends and general day-day things.
• Emotional detachment/disengagement from your once very close personal and professional relationships.
• Mental and Physical fatigue and exhaustion.
• Showing anger/irritation for no reason.
• Anxiety while doing day-day things – for example looking at charts & reading news.
• Feeling unmotivated to participate in financial markets and feel like taking a break.
• Abnormal sleeping patterns – sleeping less or sleeping more than usual.
• Accusing / Blaming others for your mistakes.

Q: What will be some of the consequences of burnout if you don’t handle it?
A:

• You will make bad financial investment/trading decisions – basically the risk of losing money.
• Negative impact on your personal and professional relationship(s).
• Unproductive on a day-by-day basis and impact on your personal/professional life.
• Impact & deterioration of your physical, emotional and spiritual health.
• Impact on your Personal and Professional life.

Q: Handling Burnout: How to handle burnout as a trader/investor in financial markets?
A:
Evaluating and acknowledging you are in a burnout state is the most important first thing.
Then here is a three step ( 3T’s ) approach from FalconFunda which can help you can to handle burnout.

• (T)ake a break & review: Take a break and ask yourself what part of my trading/ investing journey is causing me to burn out?. Make a list. Example: FOMO investing and incurring losses and anxiety, bad decisions, too much time in front of  a trading screen(s) etc,
• (T)ake back control: Ask yourself what can I do differently? For example, if spending too much time in front of the trading screen is the reason for bad decisions and losses then take back control by setting boundaries and strict limits on daily screen time which will help you take back control and aid in your recovery and practice self-care by sleeping for the required number of hours and schedule time for activities you enjoy & cause you happiness: Relax, Hobbies, Friends, Family!
• (T)ake professional help: If your remediation efforts are not helping, ask and regularly take professional help & advice if needed. This will help you to recover quickly!

Q: Avoid burnout: What can you do as part of your financial trading / investing journey to avoid burnout?
A:

• Have a trading plan: Document a strategy/purpose before trading / investing in financial markets and continuously refine it – This will give you a perspective on why, what, when and how!
• Maintain a personal trading journal: Document and regularly go through your investments and decisions.
• Self-care: Regular screen breaks: Limit your time in front of your screen. Have a reminder to take a screen break. You can read more tips from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Identify physical activities you enjoy doing which can aid your mental health and shorter-term stress relief. Read the paper from the National Library of Medicine.
• Handle day-day stress: Pay attention to shorter-term stress because of your personal/professional life activities and remediate them. Seek professional help if needed.
• Practice daily & lifelong Learning: Embracing daily and lifelong learning of new things can have a positive impact on your mental health and mindset and also boost your confidence. This will give you the capacity & confidence to cope with stress-causing factors in your life!

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