I have really good memory -- or should I say, I did. To this day I remember small details of years past (pre 2009; somewhere between recruiting and my hell first year resulted in my brain slowing down signifcantly).
Sometime this year I noticed that my memory as deteriorated significantly. It now takes time for me to figure out the exact sequence of event from just last week-- i.e. I noticed just now when trying to recount my Sandy experience to a friend. I used to never have problems like this.
I recall sorting through maybe 30+ photos from a folder and remembering the when each photo happened. I think I was able to do this easily up until earlier this year.
It is terrifying for me and words cannot describe how upset I am at my brain failing me. Especially working on the trading floor, not remember how the fuck I got to a certain trade Idea or why I did such and such a few days ago is not only terrible, but makes me feel downright incompetent. My team (used to?) rely on my to remember little things because they knew I would. Well now they can't.
Beside memory.. I'm not gonna even go into how slow I am with mental math now. Or new brain teasers. You can argue I may just be out of practice.. but let me tell you I feel dumb as a rock when attempting new brain teasers. I feel far more clueless than before I saw my first brain teaser sometime in college.
Does anyone know any way to stop this? Or if this is just a natural course of old age, is there a way to slow down the inevitable deterioation. Any exercises I can do? Books? Meds? Anything that helps ... it's driving me insane
Please help I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
Sounds pretty normal. It's not good to think about the past anyways haha.
"Yesterday's history, today's a gift, and tomorrow's a mystery."
Started happening to me recently too, I'm doing my best to keep my mind active
on the mental math front.. i force myself to mentally calculate tips at restaurant outings and it's just becoming more and more pathetic. sometimes ending with me taking out an iphone calculator. not doing much other than that.
i used to add mentally for my EoD (end of day) report for my managers.. but once I made such an obvious addition error (read: this was sent to boss and boss's boss and god knows whomelse), that i took away my privilege of doing that and now I use a calculator daily.
i'll take any other tips that you're using..
For calculating a tip, I usually use the sales tax figure. I just double whatever the sales tax is on the receipt(8.875% becomes 17.75%), saves a lot of time. You're a trader so I won't go into the details. If $1 is 10% of the bill, then $2 is 20% of the bill. Woohoo, I feel like an idiot for explaining that. No offense, but I usually chuckle hilariously when people whip out calculators for tips.
Forget what the above poster said about do this, then that, then that, then voila! The bill comes, sales tax is $2.57, tip $5.00, done
As far as your memory, you have to really think about things. When in college, you might have read slower and more even paced. In college, I read everything word for word, not that much faster than speaking it. Now that I'm out of school, I have to read an insurmountable amount of business plans. So I now read blocks of words(6-7 words) at a time and guess what I don't remember most of the crappy/average business plans.
The moral of the story is... are you trying to speed things up now that you don't have as much time to memorize things? I mean, you are trying to get things done as quickly as possible right?
There are things that some people just don't remember. I'm guessing it is a sub-conscious thing. I don't remember 9 out of 10 of my credit card numbers because I only use one online. I no longer remember phone numbers, it is stored in my phone but I remember three phone numbers in case of an emergency. I used to memorize the numbers of over 100 people back when you had to write things down. Things change, and you evolve and adapt and no longer need to do certain things. It is apart of the ever changing technnology. Instead of trying to remember your credit card numbers, store a txt file on your computer with your card number. People can't really do much today without your exp date, security code, and home address. You're being too hard on yourself. FYI: Cut/Paste pwns typing =)
As far as meds go, the only things that'll make you invincible until you're addicted is cocaine and methamphetamine. I suggest you stay away from those two things.
Google: "Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm"
It's a Wired article. Pretty good.
thank you
I posted this in the suggestions forum, but of course it was predictably ignored. We should start a petition! Of course given the borderline Alzheimer's I have going on I will literally have no recollection of this thought a few weeks from now. I'm almost convinced that memory is psychological in a way. I can usually remember the things I really really want to remember. Everything else just kind of slips out. Like a bucket with a hole in it. Sometimes I feel like my daily routine is straight out of Memento.
As someone who has now worked on a trade floor for a while, I must agree with you that my brain has slowly become mush too, face it you focus mainly on certain things day-in and day-out, also the amount of energy we use to do our daily jobs catches up to you after a while. Everyone I have worked with is pretty much that way.
But this should not be a huge fear of yours, as you lose these magical abilities you should be able to gain expertise in other areas, you should be able to see and understand things between the noise. I would say that pretty much most good traders all keep some sort of log/journal/etc, be it in actual models, or just notes from specific market events. Being able to write this stuff down should help you remember. Anyways my main point is not to FIGHT old-age/ware but instead embrace and use to your advantage the next time history repeats itself, as it always does in the markets.
Remember that time we hooked up? No? Well, you loved it and said we should go again this weekend. I forgot your number though so if you can just PM it thx.
911-666-6666
Well said marcellus
Have you been getting less sleep lately?
Ronny Paul gettin' all the ladies. What kinda pills you been poppin' hombre?
She_monkey, i was a flow trader for a while and started feeling the same way. I don't think people are built to do the work over the long term. I started feeling like a machine and eventually left for more project-based work. Would sales be better?
If it seems that serious, you might as well see a doctor. Its probably nothing.
Insufficient sleep. You need time off...
Research fish oil and krill a bit and see what you think. Know many swear by it. I just take multivitamins myself but then my brain sucks too.
My trick for tips at restaurants, if the tab is $25.73, you know $2.57 is 10% (just divide by ten, or move the decimal one spot). You can just double the $2.57 for a 20% tip and call it roughly $5.00. For a 15% tip just add on half of the $2.57, let's call that $1.25, so $2.57 plus $1.25 gives you jsut under $4.00.
Rest can't be overestimated. I think a big part of episodic memory depends on one being in the moment, aware, alert, etc. Hard to do if you are exhausted. Also take in a concert, go to a museum, etc - anything to exercise a different part of your brain and wake up areas that tend to not get used so much in finance. Variety can help shake out some cobwebs.
Good luck!
regarding fish oil and supplements: i actually have some perscribed supplement thing i'm suppose to take first thing in the morning and last thing at night: i suck at keeping up with the schedule. this isn't because i go out a lot and get plastered and 'forget' when i get home. i just forget about half the time. completely sober. i dont want to take it so seldomly and fk up my body because i'm so inconsistent. (this may/may not relate to my crappy memory / inability to remember. ugh.)
i do quite a bit of art stuff around the city actually. though i must admit i just started sometime this year, so the right half of my brain was probably not used a few years. so far, i haven't seen it improve anything.
btw-- this post was started not because of work. i got a new credit card recently. i was trying to remember it so i don't have to take it out every time i order something. and i just. couldnt. remember. strings of 4numbers (its a visa, so 4 x 4 lots of numbers). and it was bothering me so much that i couldnt remember 4 random combinations of 4numbers.
at work i do obsessively keep a blotter. one paper and one electronic. i learned this the hard way wellll before my memory went out.
I should point out that slow or foggy thinking can be a sign of depression. You may want to consider seeing a mental health professional.
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