Love this. Great point
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This morning, I’ve checked up on my open trades, and took a look at the pairs on my watchlist.
They weren’t looking so hot—no set-ups yet.
I logged my EUR/AUD trade from yesterday—-stop was too tight. I opened another straddle order (wider SL) and properly started a journal.
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Brilliant, keep pushing on.
1% compound doesn’t only create exponential change in an account balance, it makes a difference to us.
Try to improve your routine, yourself, something that needs done in your life, every day, make 1% improvement.
If it’s starting a journal, starting a habit of making the bed when you get out of it, opening the mail as it arrives etc.
Whatever the improvement, they compound up. 1% a day improvement compounded means you 100% improve your quality of life in 70 days 
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It’s funny. @Johnscott31 said something similar, and it’s been bouncing around inside my coconut for a while.
Basically, trading is a reflection of yourself, and you can’t trade at peace and not fix those same character flaws outside of trading.
Flaws in your personal life leak into your trading.
Making your bed every morning is a discipline. It involves denying the impulse to just get up and go watch tv. If you submit to impulses in your personal life, you’ll probably submit to impulses in your trading.
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Today, I didn’t do well. I can hardly remember how my morning went. It seems to have gone by quickly. Basically, my routine went out the window. I had some wins, and I probably got hungry for more trades. I wasn’t sure how it would affect me, but I’m sure it did subconsciously.
I ended up journaling some trades. I wanted to journal a few before opening new ones.
Of course, that went out the window. I saw some set-ups while taking screen shots for my journal. I opened three trades, and lost two of them already. And one of them didn’t have an OCO, which is a requirement for my strategy.
For the other trades, I have OCOs, but for the one that I lost…of course not. The pair that goes against me, I didn’t place it. I did it again.
Improving my routine is harder than I anticipated.
Only now, did I realise that I didn’t follow up on my watchlist. So, I did that, just now. I also updated my list of open trades.
I think part of my reason for not journaling some trades is because I’m trying to open the position ASAP. The movement has already started and I want to jump in before I miss out any further.
When I do this, however, I’m thinking it through a bit less I think. I don’t know. I do know however, that I rush and don’t use my journal nor the checklist within it. The journal and its checklist are my best protection tools. I rush, and I leave my capital vulnerable. I open myself up to unnecessary losses. Tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity to improve my routine.
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Life always offers a second chance, and it’s called tomorrow.
quote by, some guy on facebook
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This morning went better. First I checked on my open positions; second, my watchlist; third, I started scanning for trades.
I didn’t have enough time to any new positions, but I’m ok with that. I told myself that if I don’t have the time to open a trade properly, then I shouldn’t do it.
The upside is that I’m resisting FOMO.
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In addition to my routine this morning, at 05:00 I closed my laptop and started getting ready for work.
I was even out the door at 05:45. I don’t think I’ve ever done that in the last few years.
It feels pretty good.
Perhaps what I have a problem with in controling impulses.
I choose the more pleasant of my options, by procrastinating. I keep doing what I want to do until I’m forced to accept the unpleasant thing.
By that time, I’m rushing or the situation is far worse.
I do this over and over. Paying bills, calling the bank, doing my taxes…and journaling trades.
The root problem for me is impulse control.
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It might be helpful to come at the discipline issue from an angle, which is to make it into a time management issue rather than a self-discipline issue. Self-discipline connects with personal failure and weakness: time management connects with personal efficiency.
Look out for the work by Steven Covey on time management. It certainly changed my worklife back in the day.
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Just looked him up. I’ll take time to watch it later. Thanks!!
I forgot he’s the author of “7 habits”.
Just ordered the book.
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A 1-day course I attended on time management in the 80’s changed the way I worked.
Everything incoming was filtered -
Important and Urgent
Important but Not Urgent
Urgent but Not Important
Not Important and Not Urgent
Everything was then allocated an action -
Do it
Defer it
Delegate it
Dump it
Stuff which couldn’t be dumped was allocated into a blocked out time-slot on say a weekly basis.
To-do lists were scrapped. Daily timetables were the replacement.
I stopped worrying about managing work pressures that day.
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So, did you start scheduling tasks?
Instead of a to do list…do A on Monday 2:00-3:00, do B on Wednesday 11:00-1:00.
Like this?
Yes, though it as basically a broad programme for the day rather than a train time-table, so Tasks A, B and C had to be done say Tuesday but it wouldn’t really matter what order or what time or if broken up into segments. The scheduling is not key.
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So what IS the key?
The filtering was the key for me, on the basis of Urgent/Important.
I used to work with a massive long to-do list with a mix-up of items that I could never possibly achieve in a day or a week. Some of the items were a waste of time. So the list could never be completed and only got longer. It did nothing to show me which items to prioritise and which to delay etc. This hung over like a dark cloud. I was one of those people you see rushing around, very busy but not seeming to achieve much.
The filtering of course leads to the decision on action - Do, Defer, Delegate or Dump.
The net result was a more productive day, and a clear night’s sleep.
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Brilliant!
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Ok gotcha. A to do list has everything as equal priority, and it turns into a never-ending trap. But separating tasks helped you figure out which is important and which isn’t.
Calling your accounant shouldn’t be on the same list as buying more butter.
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