Bring it!

Before we get started, a BIG THANK YOU to all of the GTMIs who showed up and spent ~5 hours of their Saturday with us yesterday. We really appreciated your interaction and questions.

For those who couldn’t attend live, the recording is already up on our site.

Just remember, you have to login to see the course materials.

On to today’s topic:

Last weekend we were supposed to get hammered with snow. Several days before the storm, all the weather gurus were predicting 15”-18” of snow with ½”- ¾” of ice to follow. One of the models even had the totals significantly higher. It was non-stop wall-to-wall coverage of the pending storm for days. Our governor even did an hour-long briefing on Friday telling everyone to prepare fore the worst and to stay home.

So, prepare I did! We’re located in a heavily wooded area that is notorious for extended power outages. 12 days during Super Storm Sandy. I think ~6 days last March when we got clobbered with snow measured in feet. Countless other times I’ve blocked from memory. I learned years ago never to be unprepared for the possibility of an extended outage.

So, I prepped:

Snow blower gassed up and ready to go.
Extra belts for both auger and drive shaft.
ATV gassed up and ready to go.
Generator gassed up and ready to go.
Oil on hand for generator oil change when needed.
5 days’ worth of gas for generator.
Plenty of calcium chloride to melt the expected ice.
Flashlights and rechargeable batteries all fully charged.
Office “back up” supplies out and ready to go. I'll still be trading!
Enough human food and water.
WINE!
Dog food, treats and doggie meds.
Extra dog treats – they’re such good dogs!

You get the idea. I was ready to go. I probably spent about 5 hours of my life getting ready. For the record, I LOVE snow. If it’s going to be cold, it might as well snow and snow A LOT.

BRING IT!

Saturday night at 10pm, I put the dogs out to do their business for the last time and it was already starting to snow!

Sunday morning, I wake up at 5am and leap out of bed to see the damage. On the ground is about 1.5” of a slushy wet mix. Yep, a lousy 1.5” of heavy slushy crap and it’s raining outside.

What a freakin’ let down!

I’m so glad I prepared for 15-18” of snow! There’s 5 hours of my life I’ve never get back!

Wayne, what in the hell does this have to do with Day Trading? You haven’t written a blog since November and you’re talking to us about snow? #WTF?

I don’t regret over-preparing one bit. The I’ll never get those 5 hours of my life back thing was simply meant to be funny.

I over-prepare for everything, especially my job.

My daily OVER preparation is huge part of my process.

I wake up early so I can get to work early. I LOVE my job as a Day Trader so why wouldn’t I want to start early? Back in the day when I had a “real job”, I was always the first one to show up at work. Many of my employees who were dedicated and trying to advance in their careers would do everything they could to beat me to work in the morning. At a minimum, they showed up a few minutes before their technical start time. They stayed late too and never watched the clock. They left when the job was done for the day. Those were the GTMIs. They weren’t the majority of my employees unfortunately. See the similarities to Day Traders yet?

Applying this to the profession of Day Trading is no different.

It drives me nuts to see people showing up for work at 9:15am in the morning. You want to be a professional Day Trader? You want to trade for a living? Your job starts at 8am AT THE LATEST. I’m still getting to work at 7am. Those of you showing up late, you’re lucky I’m not your boss.

My larger point here is really about preparing yourself for the trading day. You can’t just wing it. You must have a routine to get yourself ready for the opening bell and beyond. Being prepared is way more involved than having a few stocks on charts and hoping one of them sets up and gives you an entry.

Here are the five (5) most important parts of my morning Day Trading Routine:

Wake up early.
Take care of any non-work-related responsibilities.
Work out. *
Shower and get dressed like I’m going to a "real job".
Eat a healthy breakfast at my desk while the stock prep begins.

*Note that THE most important part of my trading day doesn't even happen in my office. It happens here:

You’ll also notice the most important parts of my routine have nothing to do with stocks. Instead, they have everything to do with waking my ass up and making sure I’m in the correct MINDSET for the day. As we’ve discussed in the past, Day Trading successfully is more about having the proper mindset than anything else. I have to prepare that mindset daily. I have to wake up, rid myself of any potential distractions and be ready to do my job. It’s work, but work that I love and embrace.

The next part of my morning routine is very stock specific and involves about 35 steps. We’re not going into those today. I could write a book on that topic and course takers already know the steps. You learned even more about that process yesterday in CTEC.

However, I will share what I consider the biggest “tip” I can give you:

The majority of trading days, there’s so much to watch. Often too much. So many stocks. So much news. So many ideas in chat. Mike’s overnight list. So many ideas on twitter. Even ideas on CNBC if you waste your time watching for some reason.

Make sure you take all of those ideas, cultivate them down into a manageable list and prioritize. Pick your favorites and decide where your focus is going to be when that opening bell rings.

If you try to watch everything, you’ll end up seeing nothing.

In summary, if you think being a consistently profitable day trader is rolling out of bed every day around 9am, throwing on some sweatpants and then watching the $$$ roll in, your mindset is completely screwed up.

If you’re struggling to find consistent profits, maybe change up your morning routine. Try getting to work early, dressed for success, fully awake and in the proper mindset to have a successful day.

I’m always over-prepared for the day! How about you? Are YOU ready to bring it?

These simple steps in the morning may just be what your Day Trading process needs.

PS: Weather forecasters and Day Traders have something in common. Both professions allow you to be wrong a lot. As long as you practice safety first and err on the side of caution, you get to keep your job.

Thanks for reading! Questions? Comments? Reach out and/or leave a comment below.