From mediocrity to mastery

Finally a decent easier day

I was able to capture 50 pips from what so far has being a 165 pip session. On top of that I was able to identify and trade the right signal on the daily main move.

Yesterday I went to bed around 8:30 PM but was unable to sleep for a while i woke up around 4 AM which is not that bad. Little by little I'm getting used to the new schedule.

I don't think I will be able to reach my 100 pip goal for this week but considering that I'm having a hard time with the changes I'm trying to implement I will still consider the pips I got a victory.

The bottom line is that I'm ending one more week in profit. I'm gonna search in my journal and see when was my last week down. it was a while ago I can't even remember it, so I guess I'm going on the right path!

great journal ....I'm subscribed

Ok, I'm stoping earlier today. Earlier in the morning I was up 30 pips or so now I'm starting to give back.

I'm gonna end this week with +79 pips which is not that bad.

I really tried to reach my 100 pip goal but if I keep pushing it today I may end up losing more.

Over all I'm satisfied with my performance but I found myself fighting against sleepiness, lack of focus and mediocrity.

Not trading during december proved to be a BIG mistake. I lost a little my trading fitness, but I'm getting it back.

My time management is also proving to be a challenge. Every time you try to do something that is not "normal" you face resistance.

Going to bed at 8 PM has being great for my family in general. My kids are waking up more refreshed and less "grumpy" in the morning but for me and my wife it has being a problem because regular people go to sleep at 9:30 or 10 PM so there is always a phone call, a relative or neighbor at the door or something else to disrupt the schedule.

Well, I guess I just have to keep fighting.

Anyways, I hope everybody can have a blessed and safe weekend!

Hey man, i totally understand your struggle with the sleeping schedule.

I myself have a full time job and I trade during london hours.

I go to sleep at around 9:30-10pm. And wake up everyday at 1:45 am to trade at 2 am. Most days I am done within 2 hours, which allows me to sleep for few more hours. At first my wife was concerned because she thought that this would make me spend less time with her and my daughter. But opposite is true. I end up spending more quality time then just lounging around.

But occasionally I have to be up till 7 am. Those days I would be somewhat grumpy, but after about 2-3 years, I'm used to it. Which makes me question the idea that we need 8 hours of sleep to function properly. I think it's just rubbish.

I'm sure you will adjust to this. Just sharing my experience

Hey trader thanks for stopping by.

I think each person handles it differently, in my case if I don't sleep 6 hours at least I just can't function. I knew a girl that with 3 hours of sleep she was ok.

At the end of this journal if I get to become a pro and make good money exclusively out of forex I plan to move to Perth Australia. Over there London starts around 3 PM so I will be able to live a normal life and sleep around 10 or 10:30 PM

Ok, I went through my 2011 journal and found out that I'm up for 21 consecutively weeks. It came as a surprise for me because I thought that I was up for 60 weeks or so.

The problem is that this particular week I was only -5 pips so I guess I did not pay too much attention to it. Before that I managed to keep myself up for 38 weeks with solid gains of over 50 pips per week.

Thats a sign that I'm in the right path, the only problem is that my dollar per pip ratio is still relatively small. The amount of money I'm being able to generate consistently is 40% of what I need to pay my bills.

At this point I have no other source of income other than forex ( since my wife quite her job) so I have to generate consistently 150% more money than what I'm doing so far just to pay the bills.

My calculation are based on PPDR (pip per dollar ratio) so in order to reach my goals I don't have to make more pips but i do have to bump my lot sizes.

I know for a fact that I will not be able to make 250 pips consistently . These 6 years of experience showed me that 80 to 100 pips per week is the absolute top for my system.

By the end of the month I plan to start slowly trading bigger lots, but despite going slow it will definitely put my mental strength to test.

I do have some money reserves in order to try to make the transition as smooth as possible.

If I can make it great! If not it will be 2007 again

In 2007 I had nothing. No system ,no experience, and a BIG ego. Now I believe i have everything but a ego

I'm still nervous, I can't deny it! But I have to trust my skills developed over those long six years busting my brain, burning my eyes and flattening my butt in front of the computer (day and night).

You are in your way for another margin call

Your gains expectations are way off........but you get a vouch for you honesty.

I don't believe in luck but GOOD LUCK TO YOU boy you will surely need it !!!!!!!

What?

Easy monday for me so far, 8:30 AM and I'm already 32 pips up! If I don't do anything stupid till 11:30 I may be able to start this week ahead of the game and maybe I will be able to make more than 100 pips and add to the last week. Lets see.

Yesterday I was able to sleep around 8:30 PM. I woke up today a bit early (around 1:40 AM) but I take it, if I manage to carry on till 8 PM without a nap I should be in a very good position to fix my sleeping cycle.

Nice clean day, considering that it is monday and mondays are usually my worst days I feel really blessed!

11:00 AM and I'm stopping my day. The fight now is to stay awake until 8 PM.

7:30 PM

I did crash in the living room couch this afternoon . I really tried to stay awake but it was impossible!

I slept for 2 or 3 hours so I'm still confident that I can go to bed in one hour and sleep.


When I started trading I thought that as soon as I had a proven system all my problems would be solved. Well I can see now that a system is just part of the equation.

If you are single and independent I guess it would be easier but for a "family guy" like me, things are a little more complicated.

It does not seem a big deal on paper but following my schedule has become a big issue. I can't go back to the drawing board and develop a long term system.

I spent quite a bit of time to develop a system so I could trade in a daily basis and regular hours I just can't go back.

Well, I have to keep pushing forward and I have to make it happen. Otherwise this guy the platypus will prove himself right!

6:30 AM just closed a beautiful trade for +28 pips. It was +35 at one point but I can't complaint

Good week so far, made in 2 days what took me the whole last week to do and with ten percent of effort.

If I don't do anything stupid from now on I may end up the week with 150 pips or so.

Oh boy what a nice day! I was able to add 20 more pips so I'm closing my day with almost 50 pips!

I wish all days turned out like today, 5 trades and only one wrong. I took a quick cold shower around 10AM which helped a lot to keep me awake and focused.

Today I woke up 1:30 AM, thats crazy my cycle is really messed up.

Today will be the pivotal point, i have to saty awake till 8 PM otherwise tommorow will be the same problem.

I'm happy but so tired. I guess its time for another cold shower!

2 AM, and my schedule ( sleeping) issue took a turn to the worst!

Yesterday I could not handle the sleepiness and I took a 1 hour nap. That was enough to screw me up completely.

The result is that I'm awake since yesterday 5 PM

I just don't believe it ! Now in e few hours I'm gonna be miserable, I don't even know If I'm gonna be able to trade today.

Gosh! I feels like that my brain is conspiring against me. Since january first I can't put my schedule in line with my trading hours. Even when my wife was working I was sleeping better.

I may be going down to some sort of self destructive behavior or something.

If I can't keep my focus I may not trade today. I have to find a solution to this problem, QUICK !

Ok I was able to make 10 pips so far and I'm gonna go until I can. When I start to get too tired I'm gonna go sleep.

I will have to change my strategy on the schedule problem.

It became a pattern already, I'm sleeping too little at night. Than I'm too tired to exercise or function properly during the day. Than by the afternoon I crash and sleep than I can't sleep properly at night and the cycle re starts.

What I'm gonna do is to sleep as soon as possible, like around 9 or 10 AM, but not too much , maximum 2 hours.

Than I'm gonna exercise hard and carry my day as normal. I hope by 9 or 10 PM I'm gonna be tired enough to have 6 hours of sleep until 4 AM. Than I will try to cut back on the daily nap until I'm tired around 8 PM.

It is kind of a reverse cycle and I hope it will put me on schedule till monday.

Ok just gave back my 10 pips and some, I'm already up for 14 hours and it is just a matter of time before I do something really stupid.

Thats a freaking shame the fact that I can't sleep. I'm done for today!

I ended up with -8 pips today. I went o sleep around 8:30 AM and I plan to go back to bed in 30 min or so and wake up around 4 tomorrow.

I realize that I'm not gonna be able to follow my schedule right the way so I'm gonna try to reverse that messed up cycle I'm in little by little, with the list damage possible to my trading.

It sucks when your plans don't go the way you envision, specially because of something absurd as sleeping problems.

Anyways it is what it is and I can't afford to fail. I have to keep pushing forward.

hello mate - I just stumbled across your thread - and know you dont do PMs or anything but I may be able to offer some help for your sleeping issues - have you ever heard of polyphasic sleeping? Im actually a doc my nature and love all the research behind it - I myself follow the biphasic pattern and sleep 2 x 2.5 hours sleep with a 20 min nap and am amazed how much work I get done during the small hours of the night...

anyway Im not too sure what time zone you are etc but below is the website - read all about it and try it - may be your solution as you can train the body to utilise REM and short wave sleep more effectively - Winston churhill thatcher etc etc all used to do the hardcore version of only 2 hours a night - need complete flexability and not possible for 99 percent of people.

http://www.polyphasicsociety.com/pol...eep/overviews/

if you have questions or want to quiz me more PM mate bro

happy pipping

PS: I have no affiliation to any of this - was just weird I happened to check your thread and read what you wrote

Hey FX growth, thanks for the link I will definitely do some research on it.

I can't deny that I had to deal with sleep issues all my life, but sometimes it gets really bad and I have to do something about it.

I have "naturally" a very weird sleep pattern. Let me try to break it down.

If I wake up at 6 AM
Than I feel sleepy at 9:30 or 10 PM

If I sleep at 10 PM than I wake up at 4:30 5 AM
Than I'm sleepy at 8 or 9 PM

If I fight my urge to sleep and go to bet at 10 PM I can't no longer wake at 6 AM but more like 7 or 8

If I sleep at 8 or 9 I wake up at 2 or 3 AM.

So my sleep pattern is always going forward or backwards 1 or 2 hour in a cycle. It is pretty annoying.

Anyways thanks again for the info

I'm closing right now my first trade of the day for +45 pips.

Perfect clean signal at 3291