Trading is my business and I make sure to treat it as such. I make sure that I wake up at the same time every day, and I have a morning routine that I follow on a consistent basis. However the problem that I noticed was that I didn't have a warm up. Previous to this week as soon as my alarm would go off at 5:58am I would roll out of bed, grab a cup of orange juice and start checking out some charts . At first this felt good. Why? Well because it felt as if I was being productive. However, when I sat back and really thought about it, I asked myself, in what other job does an employee roll out of bed and go straight to work? And although I felt productive, was I really being productive? Or was I simply going through the motions. So this week I decided to try something different.
This week instead of loading up the charts right away, I decided to turn on the TV, do some web browsing of the different trading groups I belong to, maybe write a post for this wonderful site called I Am Business ;-), then after I've been up for a good 30mins or so, get to charting. What I found in this small sample time is that my body is much more awake and responsive (not on auto pilot) and that my brain seems to function and analyze things a lot better. I probably should eat a good meal beforehand as well but, I don't really get hungry right away once I wake up. Plus I enjoy getting all of the sleep that I can.
My challenge to you is to try this method out if you don't do so already. I would say give it a good few weeks and see if you see or feel any difference in your trading. And if so, please give me some feedback. After all would a pilot, or a technician, or a teacher, start working as soon as they wake up? Well then why do we?