I was two taps away from deleting my brokerage app.
The irony was painful. I had built a career helping others navigate markets, make decisions, manage risk — but I couldn’t manage my own sanity. Between 4 AM news scans and midnight chart-checking, I was barely functioning. My calendar was full, my brain fried, and my trades… emotional.
And it wasn’t just me who was paying for it.
My family tiptoed around my mood swings. Friends saw me less. I stopped exercising. Weekends vanished into market catch-ups. I was chasing performance — but losing my peace.
At one point, I asked myself:
Do I really need to quit to reclaim my life?
I did something else instead.
I looked at the problem — the real problem.
Not just the stress, but the constant decision-making. The dopamine rollercoaster. The pressure to outperform every day.
It wasn’t the market that was the enemy.
It was manual everything.
Every trade I made needed attention. Every strategy relied on me being “on.” I was the engine. And the engine was burning out.
So I stepped back and asked:
What if I could build something that runs while I sleep?
Not a guru, not a Discord signal, not a shortcut — but a system. My system. My logic. My values. Just automated.
Not as a startup.
But as a lifeline.
I started building the kind of tool I desperately needed:
For the first time, I wasn’t optimizing for returns.
I was optimizing for time. For clarity. For sanity.
And it worked.
I automated, and everything changed.
I wasn’t glued to my screen anymore.
I wasn’t second-guessing myself.
I had margin — not in my trades, but in my life.
And then something even more unexpected happened.
Others started asking for access.
Friends. Former clients. Strangers who read one of my blogs. They all said the same thing:
“This is what I’ve been looking for. I just didn’t know how to build it.”
Maybe you’re staring at charts late at night.
Maybe your family’s wondering where you went.
Maybe you’re successful on paper — and completely spent inside.
I get it. I’ve been there. And the answer isn’t always quitting.
Sometimes, the answer is removing yourself from the loop.
Sometimes, the best trade you’ll ever make — is for your time.
And if you’re in that space between burn-out and breakthrough, maybe it’s time to consider it too.
You don’t have to trade your sanity for success.
Let the system do the work — and take your life back.
If you’re building something — a startup, a portfolio, or even just a better version of yourself — remember this: you don’t have to be the machine to build the machine. It’s okay to delegate. It’s okay to rest. In fact, it’s necessary. Burnout doesn’t mean you’re weak; it means you’ve been carrying too much, for too long, without systems to support you. I learned the hard way that grit alone isn’t a strategy — but automation, clarity, and self-awareness can be. If you’re near the edge, don’t jump. Step back, build smarter, and let your tools trade for you — not your time.
🔗 Check out Quantl — or connect with me on LinkedIn
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Shamaz Khan
Founder Quantl AI
Connect with me on Linkedin
