Ever felt like this?
You’re watching the chart.
Nothing special. No real setup.
But something inside starts whispering: “Maybe this is enough. Maybe this time…”
And before you know it – you’ve clicked.
You didn’t really have a reason.
You just didn’t want to keep waiting.
You knew, deep down, that this wasn’t part of your plan.
But you went in anyway.
What’s actually happening here?
I’ve been there.
More times than I’d like to admit.
And it wasn’t because I didn’t know how to trade.
It wasn’t about the system, or some missing indicator.
It was about not being able to sit with the pressure.
The kind that builds up when:
- You haven’t taken a trade in days
- You’re down and want to “get back”
- Or you just feel like you have to do something
That’s when the mind starts negotiating:
“It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough…”
“Let’s just try, maybe it’ll work.”
“One small win could fix the day.”
But in those moments — we’re not trading the market.
We’re trading our own tension.
What usually follows
I’ve done this countless times.
And whether the trade won or lost — it always left the same feeling:
This wasn’t it.
It wasn’t aligned with who I wanted to be as a trader.
It wasn’t what I’d committed to.
It was just reacting.
That’s the part that wears you down.
Not the actual loss — but the fact that you knew better, and still did it.
And after a while, it starts to eat away at your process.
You begin to question yourself.
You lose trust.
And slowly, your rules become “suggestions.”
Your system becomes flexible — not by design, but by impulse.
One misstep doesn’t kill your edge.
But the pattern does.
Small slips. Repeated.
Over and over.
Until suddenly, you’ve blown the challenge again.
And you can’t even explain how it got that far.
What changed for me
This didn’t shift overnight.
There was no big breakthrough.
I just got tired of running in circles.
At some point, I stopped trying to outsmart the market —
and started focusing on getting out of my own way.
I didn’t suddenly become more disciplined.
I just started noticing the moment before the mistake.
That brief pause — where I could feel the tension rising.
Where I knew I wasn’t in the right headspace.
And instead of forcing a decision…
I just didn’t act.
And over time, I stopped seeing those days as “missed opportunities.”
When I stepped away from the screen because I wasn’t in a clear state —
I used to call that weakness.
Now?
I call that my first win of the day.
If you’re in that spot right now
There’s no magic fix.
But if you feel like the only reason you want to enter is to feel better —
maybe today’s not the day to press the button.
You don’t have to talk yourself out of it.
You don’t need to analyze it to death.
Sometimes it’s enough to sit quietly for a minute,
not touch the mouse,
and let that urge pass on its own.
Because it will pass — if you don’t feed it.
And honestly?
Some of my most valuable trading days weren’t the ones where I nailed the entry.
They were the ones where I finally didn’t do what I knew I’d regret.
