Why you should not be glued to the market/watch ticker all the time

Day trading is not for everyone. An article I read recently explains it in great depth below(reproducing the whole article as it is simply too good!). For those with the FOMO(Fear of missing out) yet considering trading as a 2nd day job, they can get heart from this article.

http://www.daytradingbias.com/?p=118073

• Restraining oneself from watching the market until decision making time can help reduce anxiety and indecision issues. Having the discipline to stay relaxed until the necessary decision time (i.e. when the bar on your chart is about to be completed and that a new bar is about to be formed) is great but not everyone can do that.
•  Once you glue yourself to the screen monitoring every tick, you mind cannot control itself in response to the changes in the chart. It is especially true when you have a position on. Your mind is working hard to make sense out of the information every second. You are practically setting yourself up to burn your brain out.
•  Not everyone can analyze a fluid situation dynamically like the chess grandmasters do. Reduce the decision making process to very specific conditions and shut out the rest. After all, you are not playing chess. You are not required to compete in trading from start to finish. You can pick the battle you know you have better chance to win. Do not even look at the markets when the prescribed conditions are not showing. That will limit your mind from random thoughts messing up your decision making process.
•  Some people are capable of highly concentrated real-time processing. But such talent has its limitations. Even if you are physically fit, using mental strength in highly concentrated ways every day will burn the brain out very quickly. This is what happen to many day traders working for trading firms as they are pushed to perform. It is not a good idea if you are planning to make day trading your career.

The solution is to utilize the talent by trading within a very short time window every day (e.g. just the first 10 minutes from stock market open). This allows the trader to fully focus within that short period of time making analysis and decisions on every tick. The rest of the day the trader can do other productive things. Most important of all, the trader is giving the brain time to recover so that long term performance is not jeopardized.