It's not just the quality of the trades that distinguishes the successful trader, but the quality of the time during market hours when they are not trading.
The least successful traders are glued to screens throughout the day and have very little structured, quality time away from the screens.
The more successful traders take breaks during the day and keep themselves fresh and focused.
The most successful traders have a structured non-trading process during market hours. They are just as plan-oriented in their non-trading time as in their trading time. When markets are open and they are not trading, they have processes they follow to identify new opportunities and to maintain their performance zone.
Productively planning and structuring your non-trading time: that is an unappreciated best practice. The great traders are highly productive when they are *not* trading. A big step that can move your trading forward is to start keeping a report card where you grade the quality of your time during the trading day when you are not trading.
On Monday at noon EST, I'll be joining Jigsaw Trading for a free webinar on three psychological techniques to improve trading psychology. In that session, I will go into detail about specific practices I see best traders engaging in during non-trading hours. Registration for the session can be found here; I hope to see you there!
Brett
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