There really is no ‘best’ time to become better in the world of trading, investing and finance. We are in a continuous vacuum of learning and only when we embrace it can we achieve greater results. I believe improving your habits evolves into a structural change that translates into more winning results.
What can you do to extend your learning? I’m a big fan Jim Cramer’s mantra of doing your ‘homework’. A technical analyst requires more study about charts, indicators, momentum and volume trends. A fundamental analyst will dig more into the earnings and sales picture, macro environment and valuation. Either way requires more time and work to get ahead of the pack.
If you are a full-time market watcher you probably have many tasks that fill up your day. Trading is not necessarily eating up all of your time, rather it is the constant monitoring and watching of the day.
If you are a multi-tasker then you are learning and watching for developments during the day. Trading and market-watching are like poker, just sitting around waiting for something to happen. WSOP 2002 champ Robert Varkonyi once said ‘no-limit hold ’em is ‘hours and hours of boredom and moments of sheer terror‘. During the day we are reading news, listening to interviews, checking charts/technicals, sizing up the market and deploying capital, but trading is no different.
During market ‘off’ time you probably allocate some time to studying, which is great. But what if you pushed yourself to do more? Could you be better? Say for instance you studied for 30 more minutes a day, which gives you 2 1/2 hours more a week (not including weekends), and an extra 10 hours a month.
String that out over a year and you have put in an extra 120 hours a year or extra five days of study! Think of the edge you would have over the rest of the crowd (if done correctly)! Taking it a step further, what if you cut out some of the more wasteful activities that take away from becoming better? Time management is critical to a trader’s success.
We all have a hard time allocating time properly. What will give us the best ‘bang for the time’? Time wasted will never be returned and more than likely puts us behind. Can you put your head down and study a bit better, a bit smarter, a bit longer? Of course you can.
I recommend to my clients, coaching students and subscribers to add more dimensions – read more books, find the best sources, maximize the twitter stream and ask questions constantly. I also recommend practice. Always practicing, because as the saying goes it ‘makes perfect’.
Michael Jordan was a fiend when it came to practice, once saying I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.
