During my notice period at my old job, I decided to trade full time. My thinking was simple: I had this in-between stretch anyway, so why not use it to get some real experience, see what full-time trading actually feels like.
Over those two months, I made about as much as one month's salary. On paper, that sounds like a win. Real money, decent number, the kind of result that could convince you to take the leap for good.
But here's what the number hides. To make that, I had to take on a level of risk I never once had to take in an office job. My salary showed up every month no matter what, guaranteed, zero risk. To earn that same amount trading, I was constantly exposed, constantly one bad move from giving it all back. Same reward, wildly different risk underneath it.
So the moment I joined my new job, I pulled trading right back to part time. The two-month experiment taught me exactly what I needed to know: that "one month's salary" from trading cost me a kind of stress and exposure a salary never does. The steady paycheck I was leaving behind suddenly looked a lot more valuable than it had before.