Success and commitment go hand in hand. Day trading is not a quick fix to a financial problem, a short cut to income, or a profitable hobby. It is a job and like almost every job out there, you will need to commit to learning how to do your job well, commit your time, and follow through on your commitments. Without commitment, you are not going to find success in the day trading industry. Because there isn't anyone there to breathe down your neck and ride you, your boss needs to be you. And you need to be a pretty strict boss.



When you start something new, it is easy to be committed to proving that you can do it. You have drive, enthusiasm, and an exuberant desire to see things through. Over time, it can become relatively easy to fall into the trap of finding excuses not to spend the day learning, growing, and trading. The first beautiful sun shine laden day, a birthday, another birthday, feeling out of sorts, and then of course there is the age old excuse that if you are well rested you will trade better. Sleeping eighteen hours a day is beyond well rested.

Excuses vary by individual, age, situation, and needs but excuses are the fail safe for everyone. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you may even believe that if you aren't actively participating then you aren't actively losing money, either.

While this may be true, the one thing you are also not doing is gaining money. You aren't gaining any time with each passing day. You are only losing time and money every day that you let yourself off the hook with an excuse. It is that simple.

Most people come up with excuses when they are fearful. Fear of getting started, fear of failing, and fear of finding out that it isn't as easy as you think are the three biggest reasons why people come up with excuses not to trade for a day. Unfortunately, a day often turns into a week, a month, a year, and eventually, it just never happened. Imagine what would happen if we accomplished everything in our life that we set out to do. It would be amazing. We would be living miracles. Since that isn't an option, as we are not allotted the time, we need to streamline and commit to the things that matter most to us.

If you don't have enough money in your account, and don't have the means to fund it further, then you have some choices to make. You can either go earn more money to fund your account or you can start smaller with the same dedication that you would have if you funded your account with $300,000. The traders which opt for both usually end up with the greatest chance of success. Perhaps that isn't what you want to hear, but sometimes you have to counter your immediate wants with you desires for tomorrow.

Your excuses, whether they are financially related or not, tend to bring down not only your chances of success, but also your likelihood of getting totally involved and working the system for everything it is worth. Of course, we are all our own worst enemies, but you also have to remember that you have the power to either create a better tomorrow or leave things as they are.

Successful traders not only commit to their trading day they same way they would commit to a spouse, at least in the beginning of the marriage, but they also remember to find a happy balance between work and play. Your commitment doesn't have to mean, and shouldn't mean, that you give up every other aspect of your life. That is not what is meant by committing to the process. Commit as much time, energy, and money as possible to the development of your new career, but don't forget to blow off steam in your off hours. Commitment doesn't mean being obsessive, but being steady, doing your due diligence every trading day, and learning how to overcome your own excuses.

One of the questions that some traders ask themselves is what would their mentor do, or what would they want to see someone they really respect in the business do? We tend to either be exceptionally hard on ourselves or we give ourselves all the slack in the world. Often if we check in and determine how we would view the same behavior in someone else we can help guide ourselves toward better behaviors.