Headspace

Sean McLaughlin
April 3, 2022

Where do you find your trading headspace?

How do you get to a place where you can immerse yourself in “the Zone” to think deeply about trades, strategies, strategizing, or new ways to approach risk management?

For me, far and away the best way to enter this zone is to go for a long walk – preferably in the mountains or in a forest. Just me, maybe my dog, and the sound of the wind whispering in the trees.

On Wednesday night, I returned from four days in the Redwoods National & State Parks of Northern California. Me and a friend hiked nearly 35 miles total.

I cannot begin to describe how amazingly beautiful this corner of the world is. It was my first time there. I took some pictures and videos, but it does not do it justice. You just cannot feel it the way you do when you’re standing amongst those towering Redwood trees and the deafening silence of the endless foggy forest washes over you.

Most of the hikes were spent chatting, laughing, and catching up with my best friend – a friend of mine since we were both five years old whom I don’t get to see too often anymore. But he had to leave to head back to the East Coast on Tuesday night. And that left me with one more day on my own to do some solo exploring.

That last day, I was the first human at the trailhead and I got on the trail just after dawn. The morning was still clinging hard to the overnight fog.

For the first three hours of this hike, I didn’t see another person. It was just me, the trees, the squirrels, the banana slugs, the birds, the fish in the streams, and the occasional distant rumble of Pacific waves upon the distant shore. It was magical.

And then, without any purposeful attempt or effort, all kinds of trading inspiration washed over me. New risk management ideas. New investment themes I should investigate. New accounts I should open to maximize my tax efficiency. I found myself suddenly and incredibly inspired. Optimistic. Fired up. Excited. As much as I was loving being in the forest, I couldn’t wait to get back home and get back to work on new ideas!

Wherever or however you tend to find your Zone, make it a promise to yourself that you’ll make every effort to get there as often as you can. Or at least create the conditions or put yourself in the physical location where magic tends to happen for you. Let serendipity strike!

Though I may have sore feet, I am recharged, refocused, and ready to tackle new opportunities.

Let’s get after it!

~ @chicagosean

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