Tuesday's Results

I woke up late (again), and today for some reason, I wasn't mentally focused. Definitely noticed that I was not as focused as yesterday.
I had a list of stocks that I usually review in the morning and select the ones with the nice setups, but for some reason, I didn't put in the time to go through reviewing everything. So, I had a half finished review, and not too many alerts entered. Of course, none of my alerts went off today either. And as the morning wore on, I eventually ran out of things to do, and naturally started watching the market, even though I saw no decent setups.
This went on for most of the morning, and after a while, a bit of boredom and frustration set in. So, I took some trades which did not have any decent setups. It's almost like a guaranteed formula - take a trade with no setup, and pay your money to the market.

One little (somewhat embarrassing) confession to make. I've started talking to myself - not in a crazy, deluded way, but instead, I've been reciting my rules out loud, repeatedly telling myself to wait for the chart to tell me what it is doing and don't chase, but look for the high probability patterns, etc.. I did this on Thursday and yesterday (Monday). Strangely enough, I did not recite my rules out loud repeatedly on Friday (when I revenge traded RIMM), and just didn't feel like doing it today. Hmmm...... I wonder if there is a pattern to this. I guess what I'm saying is that it doesn't hurt to talk to myself more often !

So, I performed poorly today, but I know why I peformed poorly. It's important for me to stay mentally focused - there's no point in trading when I'm not alert and sharp, it will just rob me of profits and equity.