Hello Steemians,
I'm a retail trader, with a current focus on the ASX and crypto currencies. I find working for yourself is amazing, it gives you so much freedom! But to do this successfully, it requires you too have enough discipline to not spend all your time at the beach...but rather work to create an income. For me, I find it helpful to follow a routine.
Although not set in stone, it does help me to prepare physically and mentally for the day ahead. Every single day I try to find the optimal balance of body and mind, indoors and outdoors, intensity and relaxation, on-screen and off-screen. I guess this is what they call the flow, I'm looking for the best flow, where body and mind work in unison.
Especially with the crypto world being 24/7 the danger is to not switch off from time to time and burn yourself out. Equally, it is crucial to make sure you create enough time for your family in the real world! And even though it is not a physically demanding job, the body tends to compensate for the mind working overtime, especially when you're behind the computer a lot.
I find that scheduling (including down time!) blocks of time is a good way to do this. So, what does an ideal day look like for me? FYI: I'm in Sydney, Australia.
What's not on this schedule are my "mini-breaks". These are critical though! Having had issues with my back from working as a management consultant behind laptops for way too long I constantly need to ensure my posture is correct and my energy is flowing. I have a standing desk which is amazing but I also do short five minute interval stretches to stretch out the key muscles in my back, hip flexors and the Psoas muscle (this is a game changer!). I might do a post later on about this actually.
To be completely honest, as I said this is the ideal schedule...life happens all the time and I haven't been able to follow this 100% throughout the day. But I find it to be useful to have a schedule to fall back on. Once you know what needs to be done, you can work your way around it. What gets scheduled, gets done!
Let me know if you follow a routine and what the things are that you're doing to perform at your best! I'm always tweaking this routine to optimise for optimal mental and physical focus.
Cheers, Jeroen (aka The Transparent Trader)