What Successful People Do In The First Hour Of Their Work Day

Hi traders!

The first hour of the day is very important, whether you are a trader or not. It is the time where you see everything clearly, get one real thing done and have a focus. Everyone has a different routine and it is important you find your own but also take a step back to analyse is it productive and useful. When I first started trading in the morning before work, I would set my alarm for 5am, roll over and turn my laptop on to check the markets and fall back to sleep if nothing was happening. Whilst this seemed ok at the time, it was not productive at all as I would be prone to making trading errors. Typically, I wouldn't be able to sleep after that and would then feel a bit lethargic the rest of the day, especially if you are just looking at a screen all day!

Fortunately, many years ago my brother gave me a life changing book on the Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking and it had certain rituals or routines to start your day. Interestingly, it is actually very similar to Tony Robbins' 'Hour of Power' which involves light exercise, motivational incantations, thinking of everything you are grateful for: in yourself, friend and family, career, etc and then visualising everything you want in your life as if you had it today. The most drive and successful people I know today follow one of Robbins' plan. 

So what do I do in the morning? I love going for a morning run (6am before the markets open!) as when I cross anyone of the London bridges close to me it just has the most inspiring and motivating view. That's the way I want to start my day, as anything is achievable after that. When I don't run in the mornings I take some time to go over my dreams, ambitions and goals which is actually the very reason I am waking up in the morning! I also visualise where I want to be as a trader, entrepreneur and the impact I want to have as a philanthropist. These are the things that are important to me (long gone are the days where I picture myself playing the drums in front of thousands of people, although I've still kept the hobby up). Once I've done this my day is set as I know what I am trading, I know what I am looking for and what I need to do to make money. Simple, it's a process but not a boring, mundane one. It's exciting and inspiring as I do what I love. If you are one of those who wakes up every morning because you have to and not because you want to, then honestly you need to look at your life as something probably needs to change. 

I'll leave to consider the following and make an attempt every morning at what the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a graduating class at Stanford to do: 

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

Full text can be found here: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html There's also a video on YouTube that is very popular. 

Find what you love; have a purpose and begin to turn ambition into achievement. Have a great day!