Trading for a living is what you make of it.

When trading for a living, it is important to understand that you call all of the shots. You are the boss; there is nobody above you to help facilitate a better working environment or level of productivity. While this is the appeal of trading for a living, it also is one of the things that can make it so difficult.

Most people are simply not used to calling their own shots. In the trading world, this can often show up as overtrading, or even worse, revenge trading. A lot of the time, people will go into trading thinking that the ability to call all the shots will lead to instant success. The truth of the matter is that most people are simply not prepared for the massive amount of freedom that trading gives.

As an example, if you decide to "double down" on a trade, nobody is here to stop you from taking excessive risk. You simply have to press the button on your computer, and you're suddenly in twice the position size that you normally would be. Because of this the freedom that you are experiencing as a trader can get you into a lot of trouble. With freedom comes responsibility, and that's especially true in the world of trading.

On the other hand, trading can be a very wonderful experience. Depending on your trading strategy, you can take as little as 20 minutes a day looking at the charts. If that's the case, one of your biggest challenges will be to decide what to do with all of your other free time! This is not a bad problem to have.

The one thing that must be included with someone's career as a trader is balance. Far too many traders spend far too much time researching and staring at charts to enjoy all the benefits that trading can come with.

After all, when you thought of trading for a living you certainly weren't thinking of sitting in front of the computer 18 hours a day. Although this sounds very obvious, there are plenty of traders out there who seem to forget that as soon as they get into live trading. You only have one life - it is your responsibility to learn to enjoy it. Trading for a living certainly will give you the time to do so, the question is: Are you willing to take it?