I've had a similar problem and the solutions that work best for me are:
i) collaborate as regularly as possible with 1 or more skilled traders who 'get' your trading style.
ii) make your work environment as focused and professional as possible. If you trade from home, rent a small office (100 sq foot is enough, and dirt cheap even in metro centres like NYC/London). Have market paraphenalia (e.g. 1987 or 2001 market crash headlines newspaper editions framed on the wall; photos/paintings of pit trader; a bookshelf of trader classics), have ZERO clutter, minimise distractions (tv, internet etc should be used sparingly if at all), have a small fridge with supplies for lunch, dinner, and all-night sessions, have backup gear e.g. spare laptop, smartphone, UPS, data recovery plan etc. Choose an office with an attractive receptionist.
iii) devise a set of 'triggers' to get your mind into work performance mode. Have a different set of clothes for work compared to the rest of your life. Have a pre-work routine that you go through each day.
iv) exercise regularly and follow a healthy diet, no junk food or excess alcholol/drugs. Mens sana in corpore sano. Healthy living increases testosterone, motivation, lifespan, focus, energy levels etc. If you are too lazy to exercise, hire an attractive fitness trainer of the opposite sex, or get an exercise partner whose company you enjoy spending time with.
v) get a colleague or trading assistant with a good work ethic. Lazy people work harder when their colleagues work hard also; whereas by themselves, lazy people don't work much. I am pretty much the laziest person ever so I know what I am talking about here.
vi) get motivation from attraction/passion, and addiction, rather than discipline and 'work ethic'. If you were the type of person who is self-disciplined, you would not have made this post. That means you are more of an unstructured, enjoyment-motivated person. You therefore need to create endorphin addiction in your working habits, make work fun and a rush, then it will be incredibly easy to go to put in the hours, in fact you will work harder than any 'disciplined' hard-working person will. However if you get out of the zone and lose your habits, you will work pitifully low hours and fail.
vii) research by large corporations and industrial psychologists from the post-war era shows that working more than 8 hours a day for more than 1-2 weeks at a time actually reduces performance and work output. So only pursue a 16-20 hour work ethic if you want to be poorer. Also, that is for manual labour. For mental labour, the optimal work period per day is a mere 6 hours. After that your brain gets frazzled and you start losing focus and making mistakes.
So, less is more. Only work >6 hours of solid concentration (you can add in 1-2 hours for menial tasks like email, filling in forms, paying bills, lunch breaks etc) in limited bursts when it is absolutely necessary, for example when markets are super busy. Then, make sure you sleep like a log at the weekend. It is not possible to maintain >8 hour days/40 hour weeks for the long-term without suffering reduced productivity. After 2-3 weeks of it without a break, not only is hourly productivity reduced, but TOTAL productivity is reduced. I.e. you literally will produce less output (of sufficient quality) with sustained 80 hour weeks than 40 hour weeks - mistakes will creep in, results will be worse, human interactions will become frayed, and so on. The fact that your non-work life will suck is just a further reason not to do it.
Most trading can be done with 2 hours morning session, 2 hours afternoon session, 1 hour prep pre-open, and 1 hour post-mortem after the close. Add another 2-4 hours if it's busy and you need to trade bell to bell. Total 6 hours normally, 8-10 hours if manic (about 20% of the time).
Quote from STC Capital:
As we all know, trading is hard work and usually requires years of pragmatic experience to do well...and even then, success still isn't guaranteed. With that being said, here's my story: Currently, I'm a swing trader. I hold futures contracts for a couple days to a week during any given trade. Every now and then, I scalp the market intraday as well. My system is highly technical, while at the same time, I pay attention to the fundamentals.
Now here's my dilemma: The only time I find myself analyzing the markets or the economy is when I feel like putting on a trade, which may be every other week. I'm not satisfied w/ that habit in myself. I'd like to be a person who eats, sleeps, breathes the markets. I'd like to be that kind of person who's up at 4 in the morning trading currencies and commodities. But I'm having a hard time pushing myself to be that person...as bad as I want to be. BTW, I am profitable but I know I can do a lot better. In a way, I actually feel lazy, especially in comparison to traders I've come across who ARE the type of traders I'm looking to be. I guess you can say I want that 16-20 hour a day work ethic.
One can easily say that you must love trading to be the type of trader I'm discussing. But my love for trading is undeniable. It's all I talk and think about...but its the DOING that I'm having a hard time with.
I'm a skilled guy in terms of psychology but my biggest hurdle in psychology is applying it to myself. I'd like to know if anyone has faced a similar dilemma as myself and if so, how'd you overcome it? Or, if anyone can offer any helpful advice, it'd be greatly appreciated.
