Tomorrow is my 75th day of my second round of 75 Hard. I did the first round Sept-Nov, and started the second round April first, this time with my husband and kids. The idea is 75 days straight, and the rules are: no alcohol, two 45-minute workouts per day, at least one outside, pick a diet and stick to it, no cheat meals, 1 gallon of water per day, 10 pages of self-help/knowledge reading per day, and you have to take a progress photo every day.
When I started the first time in September, I felt like the markets back then. Lethargic and just sort of meandering, trying to get towards some of my goals, but never really fully committing to get them. Not really being all in on myself. The first thing I noticed was that I immediately created momentum in myself. I swear the markets even started being more volatile. But it was more that I created the momentum I needed to go all in on myself, and that started creating space for better habits, better health, better resilience in the markets as well. We often talk about how important overall health, mental health etc is in order to do better in the markets. And the same way we apply rules to our lives, we can apply them to our trading.
Now I am finishing the second round. This time around was different, the burden of helping my kids through drinking (aka guzzling) water right before bedtime was cumbersome. But they were determined to finish (they were on modified rules). For me it felt oftentimes that I didn’t need it, that it wasn’t as helpful to me this time around. I’ve done it before, therefore it’s less meaningful. But what I notice now as I’m finishing, is no matter how many times I told myself it didn’t matter - I STILL REFUSED TO STOP. Which means it does matter. Creating that momentum, building the habits, working to better ourselves ALWAYS matters. I can look back now and finally see changes that I couldn’t always appreciate in real time. Changes in my health, changes in my body, changes in my determination and increased resilience.
I can look back now and say even though I have some way to go, I have more things to accomplish, I am a better person for choosing to make the change and stick with it, no matter how silly walking outside around my block was, no matter how much I didn’t think it mattered.
The biggest thing that happens with trading, is in the short term we can often not see progress. We don’t make enough money, we still go back to old habits, we aren’t as far along as we would like to be. We don’t have MOMENTUM - we are in equilibrium, status quo, we can’t see the monthly chart caught up in the 1 min chart.
So, I challenge you today - do something to BREAK OUT. Something that shifts you, out of your comfort zone, out of your equilibrium. Pour in the volume. Be the uptrend. Create the momentum to take your world parabolic.
