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Arousal regulation

Actively steering your level of activation toward the band where you decide well, rather than letting the market set it.

Arousal is set by default by whatever is on the screen: a fast open drives it up, a dead afternoon lets it fall. Neither default is likely to match the level your decisions need, which is the practical use of the yerkes-dodson-law.

Bringing it down: slow breathing, a longer exhale, standing up, reducing size, closing extra charts, a short walk away from the desk. Bringing it up: a break with movement, changing posture, narrowing the task to one instrument, setting a specific thing to watch for.

Measure it crudely and often. A one-to-ten rating in the journal before and after each trade takes seconds, and after a month it will show you the two or three levels at which you make most of your mistakes.

Related: yerkes-dodson-law, stress-response, box-breathing, behaviour-journal

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