I’ve been gaining some weight over the last few months and I’ve finally decided that I need to do something about it. I started going back to the gym.

My goal is to lose 10 pounds by the end of this month. Not a monumental goal, but I need to squash it before it gets worse. When I get my exercise, my mind is clearer and I usually trade better.

I have been trying to figure out my trading the last couple of months and been sitting on my ass a little too much. Finding balance is important and I need to get back to that.

What I really like about this website is that it keeps me on track by emailing about my progress whenever I want it to.   This keeps the goals in front of me and does not let me forget them.   Another cool feature about the website is that you can become friends with other people that have similar goals as you and together you can form a support group.

The website is called The Community and it was started by Stephen Covey of 7 Habits of Highly Successful People fame.   The goals on the website are separated into 5 separate areas: Mind, Body, Spirit, Heart and General.  I would have liked to see Financial as a goal, but General is good enough.

You clearly define each goal and the daily, weekly and/or monthly tasks you need to complete to achieve the goal. Next, you set a definite date for the achievement of your goal.  Then you can add milestones and even a reward if you are able to achieve the goal.  Every time you open the goal, there is a picture of your reward at the top to motivate you.  If you want, you can also add team members to the goal so they can get updates on your progress and support you.

There is even a journal section where you can record your notes about your progress and what you are going through.  If you have trouble setting and keeping goals, then this might be a great website for you.  I have already achieved two of my goals!

Click here to check it out and sign up for free.

What do you do to achieve your goals?  Leave a comment below…

I'm all about the audio version

I just got through reading, err, listening to Dr. Wayne Dyer’s book Excuses Begone!

Even though this isn’t a trading book per se, I believe that it is important to explore different points of view when it comes to examining my own psychology.

I usually get the audio version of a book whenever possible because that allows me to do two things at once.  For example, I listened to this entire audio book over the course of several sessions at the gym.  I have finished other audio books while cleaning my car or sitting on the toilet.  Audiobooks have to be one of the best inventions ever!  But I digress.

If you have never read or listened to any of Dr. Dyer’s books before,

they can be somewhat hit or miss.  I believe Dr. Dyer to be a very sincere and spiritually aware person and that can lead into some very metaphysical discussions in his books.

Too much of that may turn some people off, myself included, but what I really liked about this book is that he adds those discussions when needed, but he primarily sticks to every day examples in his own life and lists that are easy to follow and relate to.

As the title indicates, the purpose of the book is to get the reader to shed many of the excuses that people make as to why they aren’t living at the level they would like to be at.  Dr. Dyer has a list of 18 frequently used excuses that can keep us from getting everything we want in life and how to first identify them as excuses and then dismiss them as being inhibitors to our own success and happiness.

It is amazing how a small shift in thinking can create a huge result.  An example that Dr. Dyer uses from his own life is when he was trying to quit smoking.  He kept telling himself that it would hard to quit.  That is one of the 18 excuses, it will be too hard to do _____.

But then he thought about it for a minute and realized that it is actually harder to smoke than not to smoke.  Why?  Because you have to worry about having a lighter, making sure you have cigarettes, smoking in a designated area, carrying gum to cover the bad breath, worry about your fingers turning yellow, disposing of your ashes, disposing of your butts, making extra money to pay for it all, etc.

I am tired just writing that, I can’t imagine actually doing it.  This simple shift in thinking helped him stop smoking and he hasn’t smoked since.

How may times have we made excuses in our trading and in our everyday lives?  I know I have made my fair share of excuses.  After listening to this book however, I realize that event the most stubborn excuses have no basis in reality and I am free to change my perspective at any time.

Quite a few self development books that I have read just blow sunshine up your ass.  They  try to “inspire” you by getting you all jacked up with positive thinking but as soon as you turn off the audio or stop reading, you are left asking, “But how do I do that?”

This book actually gives techniques on HOW to do it, first by identifying the issues, then telling you how you might be able to deal with each one individually.  I highly recommend this book, it is one of the most insightful books I have ever had the privilege to read or listen to.

Click hereto see the complete description.

Since trading is such a mental game, I’m always looking for ways to improve my focus and state of mind. One exercise that I have found very helpful and revealing is the Wallet Exercise.

I learned this technique while listening to an Abraham-Hicks audiobook called The Law of Attraction.

The basic premise of the entire audiobook is that

we attract everything into our existence, regardless if we realize it or not. In other words, we only receive what we focus on or allow into our lives.

There are two poles to every desire, the presence of it or the lack of it. Many times we think that we are focusing on wanting something (money, relationships, objects, etc.) but really we are focusing on the lack of it and therefore continue to be without it.

The audiobook gives 22 exercises on how to retrain your mind to focus on the positive and not on the negative. So what is this wallet exercise?

It’s very simple. Go to the bank and get a $100 bill and put it into your wallet. Do NOT spend it, just keep it in your wallet. Now as you go through your day, imagine yourself buying everything you want with that $100 bill. True, $100 doesn’t go that far but it will get you a cup of coffee, a new shirt, gas for your car, a nice dinner, etc. You get the idea.

The key word is imagine! Don’t actually spend it but the exercise is to realize that you could buy all those things if you wanted to because you really do have a $100 bill at your disposal.

So at the end of the day you may have spent that $100 bill a thousand times in your imagination. That is the equivalent of spending $100,000 in a day!

This is a huge step to getting rid of any feelings of poverty that you may have. The confidence that a measly $100 bill will give you is pretty amazing.

Now what am I learning from this experience? After reflecting on how I react in a store, I have found that I actually had some trouble imagining myself spending that $100 on whatever I wanted. I am so used to making my money stretch as far as possible that I have ingrained in my subconscious the image of me NOT buying things.

This was a real wake up call in terms of where I am when it comes to my relationship with money. The great part is that now that I know what I am currently focusing on, I can take steps to focus on what I really do want. But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself!

I have realized recently that my lack of success in trading is purely psychological and I have been looking for books that will help me change the way I think and approach my everyday life.

While browsing the local Border’s looking for aforementioned books and cute brunettes,

I stumbled (or some would say attracted) Becoming a Man of Power by Matt Guest.

The great thing about book stores is that you can thumb through the book to see if it is even worth reading or not.  I can usually tell within two minutes if the book is:

1. Just going to blow smoke up my ass
2. Worth thumbing through in the store
3. Worth looking for online if I can get it used…sooner or later
4. Worth buying on the spot

Of course this book was a number 4, so I bought it and didn’t put it down until I was finished.

What attracted me to this book was the odd combination of the author’s spiritual awareness and machismo.  My best analogy would be if Bruce Lee were doing self-help.  One minute, he would tell you:

Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.
- Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon

The next minute he would be teaching you how to kick some guy’s ass with a roundhouse kick.

Much in the same way, Guest writes about how to connect our physical bodies and our “light bodies.”  He goes into choosing and cultivating relationships, suggestions on diet, meditation and chakras.  These practices can help one become more in tune with the subtle and often overlooked vibrations that are going on around us.

At the same time, he believes that we should be using our newfound power to get everything we desire, nothing less.

Passivity only works in a vacuum, or where forces have no volition or harmful intention.  But in the real world, you need power to stand up to power – you need power to consume the darkness. Be cocky while everyone waits desperately for you to blow it big time.  Be confident in the face of everyone Else’s disbelief in the power or originality, and pull it off anyway – with gusto.

Don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t advocate being full of yourself or being arrogant.  But having the power to overcome any obstacle, controlling what happens in your life and keys to creating the life you have always desired.

Yes, this isn’t really a trading book per se.  However, I would really recommend this book to anyone looking for practical advice about how to take more control over their life and their trading.

Get a Star Wars tattoo? Work out to a Richard Simmons video? Go to a Kenny G concert?

Thankfully none of the above, but I was a opposed to

getting an iPod for a long time.  I must be one of the few people under 60 that doesn’t own an iPod.  I thought it was a lot of hype and completely overpriced.

However, I have a lot of educational tapes and CDs that I listen to constantly but carrying them around all the time is really a pain in the ass.  So I thought I’ll give the iPod a try.

You can usually save a few dollars by shopping at the Warehouse stores or online, so I decided to stop by my friendly neighborhood Costco on the way home one day.  They had the usual choice of iPods from the Nano to the Touch, but I was only interested in the Classic.

The way I see it is that if you are willing to spend $150+ for a 8 GB device like an iPod Nano or a similar product, you might as well spend another $100 or so to get 10 times the storage space.  Believe me, it is  well worth it.

Anyway, I got the box from the cage at Costco and true to Apple form, even the box was a work of art.  I opened the box and took out the ubiquitous iPod.  I couldn’t help but admire the design, clean and functional.

The iPod is easy to use and easy to sync to my computer via the provided USB cable.  What really impressed me was the iTunes software.  It is really easy to use and fast!  Software that I have used from other manufacturers was buggy and slow at best.  iTunes can rip (copy) CDs to your hard drive in a couple minutes, so it was easy for me to convert all my music and educational materials quickly.  It even finds all the music and movies on your computer and imports it into iTunes.

Battery life is great, I can usually go about three days on one charge, even with heavy use. The iPod itself is easy to use and feels very rugged with the all metal case.

I downloaded ALL my music and educational material to the iPod and barely put a dent in the 80 GB storage capacity.  That is great!  I look forward to finding more music, educational material and videos to add to my iPod. Maybe some episodes of Lost?

So even though I am about 7 years late to the iPod party, I’m glad I decided to show up.  Now can take all my music and information with me wherever I go.  Whenever I want to feel better or learn something, I can just fire up the iPod.  If you don’t have one yet, I would highly suggest it.  Check it out:

Apple iPod classic 80 GB Black (6th Generation)

What is on my iPod?

• Anthony Robbins Personal Power Classic Edition Audio Seminar [7 Audio Cds]
• Anthony Robbins Get the Edge – CD
• Money, and the Law of Attraction 8-CD set: Learning to Attraction Wealth, Health, and Happiness (Law of Attraction)