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30 Day Challenge Update: Week 1

As promised, I have a 30 day challenge update for the first week.
Below is the table of the habits and dates up till June 6th (as I’m still completing today’s work).
30 day challenge week 1 2ndskiesforex
So what you are seeing above is an excel sheet I keep open all day every day to track my progress. The results are below:
Day 1 (Jun 1) = 6/7 habits completed
Day 2 = 6/7 habits completed
Day 3 = 4/7 completed (no bueno)
Days 4 = 7/7 habits completed per day
Day 5 = 7/7 habits completed per day
Day 6 = 7/7 habits completed per day

My sentiments on the first week?

I feel the first two days were an adjustment of integrating such a large group of new habits into my day. The 3rd day started off bad and I have no excuses for not doing them. I take full responsibility for this low performance day.
So what happens after I make a mistake or have a bad day? I rally! 
I’ve learned a far more effective response to failure is to use the frustration, pain, disappointment, etc. and leverage that emotion and feeling into performing better.
Instead of beating myself up and shrinking my self-image through negative self-talk, I’ve learned it’s far better to use the pain of what I’m feeling as motivation to work harder and do better the next time.
NOTEIt took me personally a long time to come to this place of rallying after mistakes instead beating myself up or engaging in negative self-talk. I learned this not when things were easy, but when they were most challenging and finding a new way to relate to these situations.
For you, perhaps the next time you feel down about your trading, challenged or frustrated with your results, try rallying your forces and see how you feel + perform. My guess is the results will surprise you.
habit quote aristotle successful mindset 2ndskiesforex

What Did I Learn From Week 1?

1) doing the physical exercise feels great and I can feel my muscles getting stronger each time. My fatigue comes later in the series than before and my body is almost craving the feeling of doing these exercises.
2) It’s best to do the physical exercises first thing in the morning as it energizes me for the day. That + the fact I’m less interested in exercising after a long day where I feel drained. So perhaps a useful tip there for you.
3) I’ve missed 2 days of out 6 on the trading application work. Part of this is I didn’t plan out my work ahead of time, set clear goals of what I wanted to accomplish and create a plan of action for them. I did this on Jun 4th and it’s focused my sub-conscious and conscious mind to prioritize this work more effectively since.
4) I do better with the content building work before the afternoon (morning/mid-day) as my creative energy is still strong then. Evenings I seem to have less creativity so best to knock this one off early.
5) Working on form is always easier than working on the ethereal. What do I mean by this?
As I’m doing the pushups, situps, and squats, because I’m working on my muscles and body (form), it’s easy for me to see the results quick and feel them in my body fast. Contrast this to working on my trading application or my content building and I won’t likely see the rewards till later.
I think this is a major reason why trading is hard because it’s not based on the body or form where we can see steady results building right in front of our eyes. It takes more work and sometimes you lift the weights and do the hard work in trading, but don’t get the result.
And that experience can/will tug at your mind because trading doesn’t work the same way you normally experience results and progress in most of your life. If I had to guess, you’ve experienced this to some degree in your trading process.
This is why you need mental toughness for trading. This is why you need a successful mindset.
That is all for now. I hope you enjoyed this update and look forward to your comments on how your 30 day challenge is going.

13 thoughts on “30 Day Challenge Update: Week 1”

  1. Love it. I’m keeping track of my progress, too. But your spreadsheet looks better than my list – so I might switch to a spreadsheet : )
    I’d wanted to do a DA, but want to make sure you approve it first (because it’s new to me). Seven reboot habits is plenty for my plate anyway.
    So, my challenge:
    1) 10 min meditation
    2) 45 push-ups
    3) 25 crunches
    4) 25 squats
    5) 30 mins read buddhism
    6) 30 mins read neuroscience
    7) 2 hr market research
    My results so far:
    Jun1 – 7/7
    Jun2 – 7/7
    Jun3 – 6/7
    Jun4 – 6/7
    Jun5 – 6/7
    Jun6 – 7/7
    Jun7 – 6/7
    Jun8 – 7/7
    The exercises are getting easier. Thinking about doing them is worse than actually doing them! Pushups went from, for example, sets of 10, 6, 6, 8, 6, 6, 3 in the first days for a total of 45 – with a fair amount of struggling – to 12, 12, 10, 11, 10 for a total of 55 yesterday – with little struggle except in the last reps of the last two sets. Next, I’ll shorten the rest time between sets. I’m also now able to do 10 straight legged sit-ups in addition to my 25 crunches, so might get to a full set of straight leg sit-ups in a week or so. They ain’t pretty, but I do them. My belly is still big, but that’s not a reason to not keep exercising. I used to do a lot of pushups (100 or so a day), and so muscle/brain memory has kicked in, and it’s fascinating to feel it and very nice to be exercising again.
    I do the meditation for 10 mins. My mind is a torrent, and that’s fine. I’m new to it, and I accept that I’m new to it. So, I think I’m right where I need to be with it. On some days, maybe six mins in or so, suddenly everything in the room becomes more vivid. Then it subsides. On some days that doesn’t happen at all. I don’t judge any of it. I just do the ten mins and then get up and go on with my day, happy to have made the effort.
    My research is the only thing I haven’t executed on every day, but that may change now because a few days ago I got a better focus on what I aim to do with it. They all feed into each other – one success building upon another or lending focus to another. And I’m smiling more, which is definitely a nice benefit : )
    Thanks, Chris.

    1. nice work and glad to hear you’re taking on such a heavy load
      will be quite a challenge
      keep me apprised and all the best

  2. I see that you’re doing 30 minutes of neuroscience reading a day. Very cool btw. In your studies which brains waves are typically engaged in trading and which waves would you say are the most beneficial ones to have engaged while trading?

    1. Hello Ray,
      There has been no official studies on brainwaves of traders while trading, so it’s only speculative at this time. But a calm meditative whole-brain state would be the most ideal IMO.

  3. Great stuff.
    Delayed gratification is one of the most effective personal traits of successful people..
    I’m on my sleeping routine challenge. I’ve noticed that when I go to bed a bit earlier and wake up early every day the same time, I have more energy during the day.

    1. Hola Mantas – yes, to be successful, you have to move towards delayed gratification.
      RE: Sleeping Routine
      Right on – yes, with regular amounts of healthy sleep, the brain and body will respond.

  4. Great sharing and great results Chris.
    1. Thanks for sharing that you use frustration, disappointment and leverage that energy into better performance. Loved it. I have personally struggled in this area so thank you – rally will be part of my strategy
    2. You are so right on the money that working on form is much easier than ethereal – experienced it in meditation and trading 🙂

    1. Hello Kiran – yeah I personally struggled with frustration and disappointment in the past till I learned a new model for relating to it.

  5. My goal is to do 20 mins meditation daily. Completed 7/7. Not seeing any results yet and mind is still as scattered as before. I guess it’s like the trading experience you described, results are not quick, but once you get it, the benefits are immeasurable.

    1. nice
      7 days a week on that is great
      regarding results: do you feel calmer after you practice? is your breathing slower or faster? do you feel more focused? If so, how long does that last?

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