Ryan - I have the very same problem at times and is part of the reason I started
this thread.
Here's some ideas: 1) Depending on your markets being traded, you may need to find your personal sweet spot. What I mean is that while the market is basically open 24/7 (and a focus from 930am-4pm) there's a lot of hours in there to trade. Unless you program your system, you cannot possibly sustain long periods of trading and focus IMO. So instead of trying to force a square peg in a round hole, take a step back and see WHEN you trade your BEST. Then, focus on that timeframe as your starting point.
I'll give the best example I can think of right now - I used to be the guy that wanted to trade 8am-415pm on the ES. Wanted to take every trade I saw and make $10k+ per day like it was nothing. Honest to God. At some point I realized that I personally cannot sit and trade from 8am-415pm, Mon-Fri. Not only do I lack the focus, but I'm pretty sure I have some sort of case of ADD where during slow times my mind wanders like you wouldn't believe. The internet is a marvelous place to get lost and kill hours of time.
Finally one day I just took a step back and said - ENOUGH. I PROVED that I cannot trade all day, every day. Once you've proved to yourself that you cannot do that, find what works for you. We are conditioned from a young age that a 'full work day' consists of working at least 9am-5pm per day, if not longer. Our brain is conditioned to believe you must work longer and harder to make more money....
Well, I found out the long and expensive way that belief does not hold true in trading. While there are some machines & people that can do it, I can't!
What this meant for my trading was focusing on the AM (8am-noon) and that's it. And from there I narrowed my primary trading choice to bonds that have some great moves in the AM and some days can easily create a great day by 10am or sooner. As a matter of fact, I was just mentioning in the TL chat room on Tue morning w/ another bond trader (we were only 2 in room) that my day had pretty much been done before the index guys even showed up.
2) Once you've found your sweet spot, then it's a matter of doing it in the allotted time. I still have issues with this and
today's post showed that. I wish I could give you the magical formula to keep you focused, but I am still looking for it myself.
3) From there you can argue that only working the charts during your allotted timeframe is what you should be doing. Whether you only have the charts going or not, you need to work on developing a focus during the timeframe that you have available. I try to tell myself that I only have 4 hours per day to do my job, so I better do it good. That works most days.
4) The purpose of the
P/L thread is to create accountability. You need to make yourself accountable to someone or something. For me, using a public forum is an added motivation to get the job done as I had hit a rut w/ just going through the motions. If you are married, get your wife involved. If not, then find someone or some avenue where you know you have to tell them how you did today. I'd welcome you to our P/L thread and YOU post what YOU want. It can be as simple as - Plan followed: Y/N. What you post is up to you. But get accountable somewhere.
In the end, it's something some of us battle with and it's not easy. I've actually considered doing more research on the subject to see what else is out there to help in this area - whether being exercises, supplements, etc. I haven't done it yet though... just not focused enough I guess.
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