Trading is one of the hardest games in the world. At the same time, there is no other profession that can offer such a source of scalable income and personal freedom. You are your own boss, the CEO of your small business. However, this means that you have no one else to structure your day. You have to develop routines that bring you the results you want in trading and other areas of your life. Here are some things that you can do that will greatly enhance the probability of you having a successful and productive day.
Get Up Early
The last thing you want is to start your trading day off in a rush. You want your mornings to be as stress-free and relaxed as possible. Waking up at 9:15 am and rushing all your pre-market preparation is a recipe for disaster. You will have no conviction in your trading that day because you did not prepare.
Use the time before the market opens to make a plan of attack for every stock on your watchlist. By the time the market opens, you are just executing, not planning. You have to be fully awake by the time the market opens, so you need to do things that will wake your brain up so you will achieve high performance in your trading day.
Get Outside
Getting some fresh air before the market opens is a great way to start the day. You are about to be sitting in front of your monitors inside for 3 hours+ so get outside while you can. The sunlight will help you wake up, and walking around will get your blood moving. You will have to make a bunch of quick decisions under pressure once the market opens, so you need to be fully awake and alert. Getting outside and going for a walk is the perfect way to wake yourself up.
Plan Your Day
Planning is an essential part of your day. You need to be methodical how you plan your day, and the early morning is the best time to figure what needs to get done and when. You don’t necessarily have to be planning out every hour of the day. But you should make a list of things that need to get done over the next 12-16 hours. A lot of people spend too much time executing and not enough time planning.
At the end of the day, every person has a different personality and strengths and weaknesses. You have to experiment a ton with your daily routines in order to find what routine brings you results. The things we mentioned are a good start, but it is up to you to optimize and refine your routine. Your only constant in your routine should be that you are always optimizing. In trading and any other entrepreneurial adventure, if you are not adapting and refining, you will be broke in no time.
Free Trader Assessment
If you want some direct feedback on where you are as a trader and your trading goals, you should take our free trader assessment for advice on how to take your trading to the level. We will also direct you to our free webinar “How to make $200 a Day Trading” to give you even more free insight on how to achieve consistency in trading.
