Market Strategy: Keeping One's Self Sane in a Choppy Market

Gosh, I hate a choppy the market the most. It evokes my most hated enemy: Emotion.

I can't stand it. Although I'm in better shape than I was last week and although I'm currently beating the market. I hate the feeling that I'm not moving fast enough. Not getting to where I want to be. Yet through all these things that I'm feeling, I have to always remind myself that: Being Emotional plus Impatient equals Losing a crap load of money. So let's focus on the Pros & Cons and decide what to do from there.

PROS:
- With the Nasdaq lower by 1.5% and the DOW down 2.5% than compared to the start of the year, I'm beating out the market however, I'm still at EVEN. Booooo!
- I really like my portfolio. I truly believe they will all be winners!
- It easily could be waaaay worse

CONS:
- I feel like I'm going no-where financially
- I feel I could be doing more
- I'm getting impatient

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THE ANALYSIS:
The truth of the matter is that I'm doing OK. In reality, the way I have my sell prices set at, I'll do pretty darn well (assuming the market recovers and all goes as planned). The Pros definitely speak to that. The Cons, if you haven't already noticed, are overwhelmingly emotional. Irrelevant right?

THE LESSON:
So the million dollar lesson that I constantly have to re-teach myself: When stocks go up... It goes up fast. Really, really fast. The majority of the time, we're just getting ourselves in position to reap the profits.

THE STRATEGY:
Here's what I have come up with.

To address my need for action, I have designated a set number of shares for trading and left the majority for investment. So as the market experiences volatility as it tries to find some direction, I can buy and sell and pretty much address my concerns as listed in my CONS. This way, I can get a leg up in the market while still being in position to enjoy the long term (and many times more rewarding) benefits when the bulls decides wakes up and run.

So yes, while I'm fully aware that buying at the lows and holding rather than putting aside shares to trade will probably end in the same gain. I think we have to remember who we are. As investors, we need to keep, hold and believe in the investments we make. But as my patience gives way to my emotions... I think I still need to be true to who I am. Flaws included.