Less stress. Less strain. Less emotional volatility.

June 8, 2020

You don’t have to add anything in order to be happy; you’ve got to drop something. ~ Anthony De Mello, in “Awareness”

True in life and in trading.

I’ve spent the better part of the past two weeks meditating on ways to improve upon a trading strategy I employ in $SPY options.

Where I struggled, it was when I was brainstorming ways to add more hedging, more dynamic adjusting, more attention, more monitoring, more trading.

It wasn’t until I began to imagine doing, having, and controlling LESS that things started to really turn for the better.

Instead of adding more hedging schemes, I’m doing less micromanaging of delta risk.

Instead of adding more and more contracts and expiration series, I’m spreading risk across fewer and fewer contracts resulting in less moving parts.

Instead of attempting to trade more to assert a false perception of control, I’m trading less and smarter.

Instead of monitoring hourly swings in the market, I’m zooming out to the bigger picture.

Instead of focusing squarely on making more money, I’m focusing on less volatility in the return stream.

And the side effect of all this less?

Less stress. Less strain. Less emotional volatility.

More Happy.

*The above quote served up to me from my new favorite app that reminds me of favorite passages I highlighted in books I’ve read — @readwise