Trading software

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Goals 2012



I’m not really one for New Year Resolutions to be honest but I guess January is always a good time to plan ahead for the year and set some goals. I’m not one for wishy washy ‘follow your dreams’ waffle but I do think it helps to set realistic goals and targets to help fulfil ones potential. I just came across some quotes by a chap called Charles C. Noble - I can’t really find out much about him but he was a good man for the quotes about goal setting. Thought this one was good and can be applied particularly to trading/betting, which is full of short-term disappointments. 

“You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-range failures.”

Another one I liked was from a guy called Jim Rohn:

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” 

The above is very true of what I do with trading and betting – especially since I’ve started getting up at six every morning. The long term view keeps me motivated but you definitely need to get into a habit. 
 Another one I liked from Robert Puller:
 
““Good habits, once established are just as hard to break as are bad habits”

OK, OK, I’m going to town here on the oul motivational quotes but let me throw in one more from the one and only Aristotle:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Probably a bit naff, but there’s some good food for thought there.  For 2012, I’ve set up a number of targets and have a few things I want to achieve.  I’ll briefly list them here as it will be interesting to review them this time next year if nothing else! 

Financial trading
Learn, learn, learn. I want to continue to learn and read as much as possible. I also want to be getting up every morning to trade from 6.30 to 8.30am and have a set routine. I’m still finding my feet in this regard but repetition breeds familiarity. To make any money, you need to know your product inside out so there’s no point in doing things half arsed here and there. Routine is key. I won’t set any money goals (just yet) as I really want to concentrate on becoming a good trader rather than someone who is trying to make money. 

Betfair trading
I’m pretty disappointed with the amount of trading I got done in 2011 on Betfair. It was partly due to work commitments but I also concentrated on other stuff such as my evening course in trading. I think I need to set myself some times where I trade on Betfair, no matter what. I don’t feel too tuned in to the markets right now and that’s off putting. I need to get back in the game. I need to sit down and look at money, time and a few other things come up with some sort of plan.

Racing
I showed a small profit for my Indo column in 2011 and I’d like to build on that and continue with the writing work which I love doing. Hopefully the profit in 2012 will be a fair bit bigger. The form study has been going well so I want to keep that up and give it a lash with some decent money. By the end of the year, I want to be earning a decent sum from the form study work.  I’d also like to get my site up and running again properly and hopefully pull in a small few quid from that again. 

Health & Fitness
I did pretty good on this front in 2011 so I want to kick on a bit more in 2012. I want to go for a decent run at least three times a week and also do a workout at least three times a week. That’s six fitness sessions per week which would be pretty decent as I’m doing 4 – 5 at the moment. No drinking on school nights is another one as I want to get up at six each morning to trade.

Book
I’ve loads of ideas for a book of short stories jotted down. If I write at least one chapter of it, it will be a start. I've also some bits and pieces together for a non-fiction book. I might look at that again too.

Driving
I’d love to pass my test – I’ve only got the car a month so how realistic that is I don’t know but I’m going to keep learning as much as I can and hopefully, I can pass the test by the end of the year. 

Money
Won’t go in to too much detail on a public website but I’ve set some goals regarding finance and I want to be able to help out the missus with a project she’s working on. By the end of the year, I want to be clear of certain debts and have money for a certain goal. 

Education
Not sure what I’ll do yet, but I’d like to do another evening course – possibly something to do with economics or maybe another sort of trading course. 

Family
Want to make that extra effort to get a bit of time with my daughter when I come home from work, before she goes to bed. The computer will have to wait on me. Want to read with her as much as possible. Also want to get a few nights out with the missus – it’s something we don’t do half as much as we should 
anymore. 

Travel
Spent a bomb on travel in 2011 going away numerous times so this year will have to be cut back a bit unfortunately. I’ve a weekend booked with the lads to see a mate in Norway this month and I’d also like to go on a family sun holiday for a week or so in the summer, perhaps with some friends as I did in 2011. Other than that, if I get a weekend away with herself somewhere, I’ll be happy. Paris is always good but I’ll see how the finances are around Arc weekend. 

Out of all of those, the priority is to become a better trader and I’ll be disappointed with myself if I don’t stick to my early morning routine. 

Actually, I reckon it would be a good idea to revisit this in six months and review/update on progress. 

 “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” (Confucius).



2 comments:

  1. hey i found your blog through search. i am new to sports trading. i like your list of goals, i also have set some for myself.

    what sites do you use for trading? which are the best ones?

    thanks
    jon

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Jon. For sports trading, I use Betfair mainly and Betdaq the odd time. For financial trading, I use Market Spreads.

    ReplyDelete