People usually share their plans at the end of the year or on the first day of the New Year and call it New Year resolution. I hate the whole concept and I bet so many do for the same reason. I wonder how many are following through, how soon they are giving up and forgetting about it. I'll tell you, most are breaking their (health and lifestyle related) promises they make to themselves the very first minute of the year as that's when everyone drinks champagne (and what not) and serves festive dishes that exceed everyone's normal calorie intake three times at least, and we do this because we're celebrating. More about this later in this post.
As I said I'm late with my plan, 3 months late, because at the end of last year I didn't know what my schedule will be (I was in negotiation for a position) and it took some time till things got clear, so here I am with my solid plan for the year.
Last year I also had a plan and failed most of it. This year I have a more clear plan and don't intend to waste another year as the clock is ticking. We don't get any younger and the more time we waste, the less it remains to be lived as we want. Simple math, not rocket science.
Health above all else
This is something I've been concerned about and it's time to take it seriously. It's not like I'm sick (not that I know of), but I will be if I'm not taking this seriously, so here's the list of things I'm working on this year.
Fixing my sleep
Unfortunately my sleep has been all over the place, due to trading mostly. There are four trading sessions to choose from and the last one (for me) ends at 11pm my time and if I tend to trade it, it's midnight or even after midnight when I can fall asleep. After a trading session, you can't just turn your brain off and go to sleep, unless it was a boring session, but otherwise your mind is racing and you think of setups, chances and so on. So the new rule is to trade the beginning of the NY pm session, which starts at 8.30pm and trade for one hour and log off. In one hour you know if it worth sitting through the session or better do something else. This way my mind has time to cook down and can have a better sleep. This is important because my day has to start early and a good sleep is necessary if I want maximum efficiency.
After a thorough research I came to the conclusion that the best time for me to trade is the end of the Asia session, which means 7am. It matches my trading strategy perfectly and can be very profitable, but in order for me to have a razor sharp mind at 7am and be ready to hit buy or sell, I need to get up at 6am, as till 7am I need to finish my morning routine and be ready with my technical analysis as well. So to be able to have a laser sharp mind at 7am, I need a healthy sleep.
Tho weeks ago, with this crazy daylight savings shift I had to suffer a few days till I got things in order. It always messes with my sleep and the first week is always a struggle, but it's been two weeks now, so I've managed to get my sleep in order and looks like with my new strategy I can get 7 hours of sleep and rest too, because sleeping and resting is not always the same thing, unfortunately.
Change of habits
In order to go to bed earlier than my old usual, I had to give up watching movies aired by Italian broadcasters, which have been my favorites, for many reasons. Due to timezone differences, movies end close to 1am my time, which is way past my bedtime and just not acceptable anymore. Nothing comes without sacrifices, right? Instead, I switched to Netflix, where I can choose when to stop and resume next time. It still hurts as I love Italian movies, but it's been messing up my sleep really badly.
Diet
This is a huge piece of the package. The biggest piece of the puzzle if I can say that. The truth is, I've tried this and that, but had to realize the only way I can make some progress is by counting calories.
It's not something you want to do as it takes time to weigh everything, but it's a necessary evil, that not only helps you avoid over eating, but has also an educational role many can't see.
This was my lunch today, along with the vegetable soup you see above. This is chicken breast baked in the oven, without any added fat and served with cooked cabbage. It's a low calorie dish and not only light, but healthy too. The veggie soup also had chicken breast and was delicious. I'm not a huge fan of chicken breast but made in the oven makes it less dry and very enjoyable.
Having a strict diet is not easy and requires planning ahead. It requires shopping ahead as well. Leaving things to chance is not an option anymore.
It requires a different mindset and a lot of will, but it is totally doable.
What I observed about myself over the years is that for me it's better not to break the rules, which in plain English means no exceptions. Once you break the rules, other times follows and now comes what I said at the beginning of my post. You can always find an excuse why you break your own rules. Like there's an special event you can't skip or you are convinced you need to eat more because you're feeling weak or ... the list is long.
This is basically what alcoholics do. They are drinking when they are sad, or angry, or happy, or when they are celebrating something and they are basically always drinking, because there's always a reason. This is what I had been doing with coffee, till 7 years ago I said enough is enough and quit. This lesson taught me to never break the rule as once you break it, there's no turning back.
As I said, it's a tough task, but there's a good side as well. You learn a lot in the process and learn to select what can you eat and how much. Smartphones have built in health apps that come with a lot of options so you don't make many extra efforts. You can upload the ingredients, the foods you're consuming and you have the necessary details on the package as well, or on the internet. Easy peasy.
This is extremely important for the period that comes after, which maybe is more difficult than the diet, because once you're off, you think you can eat anything and everything and this is where most of us go wrong. I'm thinking after some time you can already estimate what a dinner or lunch means in terms of calories and maybe just have half, or a healthier option and avoid putting back what you lost.
It's been almost 3 weeks for me and I can solemnly swear, I've learnt a lot and made progress already.
Got a book with amazing recipes, it's a diet book for selective days, which means you have carb day, protein day, then fruit day and so on.
The book is good, has some amazing recipes for each category, it gives you the quantity for 2, but still, without counting calories, it doesn't work. At least for me.
So what I'm going to do (when I'll have enough time) is to calculate calories for each recipe and adjust the quantities in case I need to. I can still use it, but I need to see how much each recipe means in calories.
Will be great to have all the calories calculated and plenty of recipes to choose from.
Walk and exercise
This is something I need to work on still, work out when is the best time and find the time for a regular walk and exercise. I have a busy schedule and my day is heavily focused on trading sessions, so it needs to be between them.
New Chapter
This week I'm starting a new chapter of my life. There's something I've been wanting to do for years, but couldn't. Looks like this week my dream is going to come true. At this point I'm not going to reveal more about it as there will be a post dedicated to it, so stay tuned.
One Keyword Applies To All
I'm not going to let you play the guessing game, I'm revealing the keyword to you right at the beginning, which is:
Trading requires a lot of discipline and those who can't be disciplined, are disciplined by the market. I've learnt a lot since I'm trading and have adjusted my lifestyle accordingly, but there's still a lot to learn and do. Healthy eating and a healthy sleep patter is required in this industry and both need discipline. So I guess it's safe to say without discipline, you have nothing.
It's time to finish my post as it's getting too long already. If you've managed to read it till the end (you're an idiot 😆) thank you from the bottom of my heart and I hope my plan motivates you as well in changing your life for the better.
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