Egocentrism Costs Thousands of Dollars /Learning Lessons / Being in the now

 I titled the article this because I told my psychologist I would do this yesterday while we were discussing my bad day yesterday - or really the day before. So I had a decent day the day before until I made a bad decision. There were several. One being that I took a trade at the end of the day and didn't get out at the close. Trading aftermarket can cause liquidity problems - I know this. The egocentrism comes in because I didn't close the position because it would have been a little loss even though I was still up on the day. I really wanted the money back that I'd made earlier in the day - so it had nothing to do with the trade that I was in. After hours it wicked down and took out 1/3 of my position before shooting back up. I usually don't chase and I didn't here. Point is that getting out anytime would have been better than not getting out and doing what I did - Hold overnight. I haven't held anything overnight for months. But I wasn't thinking about this at the time when I didn't get out. I know that if I'm holding something overnight, I'm likely hoping and the loss or breakeven that I have is more likely to turn into a bigger loss or slight gain - which is not worth the loss of sleep, added stress, and extra time I put in watching it after hours/pre-market when the trade I was in originally has broken down. Trade is broken - should be out - GET OUT! try a new trade later. So I sat and talked through the lessons learned here and what I can take away from the loss. Somethings that I'm thinking: don't go big late in the day, I usually don't trade at the end of the day so why am I trying with size on a low conviction idea - size down on low convictions trades with tight stops in case you want to try again if things have changed to being different and having more conviction. Maybe don't even trade and use your time in different ways. You know your best trading time of day and there is likely a reason behind that - for me it is at the open and after the first move of the day/ mid morning. The reason is that most of the plays/setups that I have identified and worked on that fit my style happen during this time frame. Also, Cut off trades at the EOD. Maybe this isn't for everyone, but I don't do long term ideas. Not yet. And if my trade was not a long term idea then I have no business holding overnight. I've thought and talked about this before, but a refresher is always refreshing. Just refresh before you go and lose money. So I did not have an exit strategy for the EOD when I got into this trade at the end of the day - definite problem. I don't think I was even concidering holding it overnight when I got into the trade, but I wasn't considering the possibility that I might need to liquidate at the end of the day even if it was a loss. WOW, I just witnessed a beautiful trade take place. I was going to take it small size but I'd washed on the stock today and don't want to get hit with washing rule stuff - it was just a little, but I wasn't planning on getting in this trade with any size so I thought I'd just watch it and see if i was right - Sometimes this IS the best plan of action - just learning from what you see - just don't let inaction be your plan/norm.  OK moving on. Something else we discussed was moving on from a bad trade. I felt pretty good considering I spent the entire next day trying to get out with the least pain - still painful. This is another reason holding overnight with a broken trade is a bad idea. One your trade is broken. Two, the next day can end up being a waste too because of the prior error.  Anyway back to what I was going to say that I was feeling pretty good. While I felt pretty good, I was aware of the anxiety moving forward. It is interesting to notice that you right now, are not past you, and you are not future you yet and future you is not based on past you.  Probably need to reread that and flesh it out. The point is that I will worry about future me based on past me's errors. To some extent I believe this is needed, but it doesn't need to be dwelled on. I am not my errors. What I can do is focus on me now and the actions I will take now will help me be the best me given any situation. I feel like maybe I write more on these things another time. What do you do to get out of a funk? Does it even count as a funk if it was one instance?  Cheers!