Itchymoku 

I think staring at the screen sends a signal to the brain that it's sunny. I've heard that's a good tip and reading a book to bog the mind down.

You are correct. Artificial light from screens will affect your brains sleep mechanism. (Can't think of the chemical that controls it.)

Itchymoku 

I found with other jobs I've had that forcing myself to wake up regardless how tired I was to get there on time over and over worked with coffee. Going to sleep on time was really just a function of being tired from waking up early. (hopefully my new diet should help a little) Do you have any tips? What do you do to maintain a balanced sleep schedule? Thanks, Itchy

Itchy, honestly I think it's a matter of motivation. Sufficient motivation and problem goes away. I doubt you would wake up late and miss a flight taking you on vacation for example.

If you lack motivation in trading I suggest starting with taking a good break from all things trading and then come back to it only once you start identifying what motivates you to return, then use that to change your pattern of behavior.

Sent from my LG Optimus G Pro

Itchymoku 

I found with other jobs I've had that forcing myself to wake up regardless how tired I was to get there on time over and over worked with coffee. Going to sleep on time was really just a function of being tired from waking up early. (hopefully my new diet should help a little) Do you have any tips? What do you do to maintain a balanced sleep schedule? Thanks, Itchy

Build a strategy that submits an order in CL 10 minutes after you want to start trading for the day. Make the order large enough to motivate yourself out of bed to cancel the order every morning.

You can call it the Risk Alarm Clock.

Big Mike 

Itchy, honestly I think it's a matter of motivation. Sufficient motivation and problem goes away. I doubt you would wake up late and miss a flight taking you on vacation for example. If you lack motivation in trading I suggest starting with taking a good break from all things trading and then come back to it only once you start identifying what motivates you to return, then use that to change your pattern of behavior. Sent from my LG Optimus G Pro

you couldn't be more right, I need to make this my number one priority in life atm. I need to put 110% of my effort into it and not be lazy about it. I can't just think that pulling in a few good trades a week is sufficient when there's opportunities everyday that I'm missing. Basically I need to make daily sacrifices of what feels comfortable to make this dream a reality.

addchild 

Build a strategy that submits an order in CL 10 minutes after you want to start trading for the day. Make the order large enough to motivate yourself out of bed to cancel the order every morning. You can call it the Risk Alarm Clock.

hopefully you're being facetious, or have you actually tried doing this with much success?

Willpower alone is not enough.

You have to set yourself up for success. That means a lot of things have to be done in a way that is conducive to trading.

If you were late to a normal job you would get fired, and thus your motivation. Still, if you don't like your job you might choose to be fired over being on time.

So it's not enough to say "do it". Look around you, your environment, your support network, your finances, your mental focus, etc and take note. You say it's a dream, you probably need to set a bunch of intermediate goals to realize that dream.

I still think taking a good long break is a good idea. Time is relative, so that could mean 1 week, 1 month, 1 year depending on the individual.

Good luck!

Sent from my LG Optimus G Pro

Itchymoku 

hopefully you're being facetious, or have you actually tried doing this with much success?

I haven't had to try it, I'm generally good with an alarm clock that's out of arms reach.

But I do think it would be a good idea. Though may be a little extreme, nothing makes people evolve quicker than crisis.

addchild 

nothing makes people evolve quicker than crisis.

You must of been in the military.

Big Mike 

Willpower alone is not enough. You have to set yourself up for success. That means a lot of things have to be done in a way that is conducive to trading. If you were late to a normal job you would get fired, and thus your motivation. Still, if you don't like your job you might choose to be fired over being on time. So it's not enough to say "do it". Look around you, your environment, your support network, your finances, your mental focus, etc and take note. You say it's a dream, you probably need to set a bunch of intermediate goals to realize that dream. I still think taking a good long break is a good idea. Time is relative, so that could mean 1 week, 1 month, 1 year depending on the individual. Good luck! Sent from my LG Optimus G Pro

I agree with most of the points here but taking a long break isn't feasible for me, maybe a few days considering I just got out of a break up after a year and a half but even the emotional aspect I ignore while trading. Trading is what I do and I highly enjoy it. It does drive me to stay up till the opening hours, I just need to rearrange the sleeping patterns I have. With forex I could stay up at night with no problem but with trading NQ it requires me to be awake during the morning. I have a lot of willpower, it's just that I was satisfied for a while making a few trades a week so I didn't change anything but now I want to do more. I can make it work because I have before. I don't mean to make a big deal about it because really it's something I can fix. I appreciate the response.

I do feel you, there are a lot of things that go hand in hand with trading regarding discipline in life not only with diet but also exercise, supportive friends and family, and many other subjects we talk about daily. Although willpower alone is not enough I believe it does constitute a good chunk of what is necessary, but yes there are many other things needed.

I chose not following plan because I think this falls under that category.

My biggest challenge is not following up methodically on my trading history. Not recording enough to make a meaningful assessment later on. And therefore, not being able to analyze what areas need improvement.

I get stellar results for 2-3 weeks and then quite the opposite for the next 2-3. By then, I haven't recorded enough to compare the 2 sets to know what really needs improvement. It becomes a never ending cycle because there is no feedback for the next iteration and any changes are just guesswork without anything meaningful backing it up.

I have just recently started logging every trade with my own description of the trade and certain attributes that I think will help. Hopefully over the next few weeks, I will move past this hurdle.