Morning Routine for Active Investors

I'm Scott McGregor @Scottrades on Twitter. Welcome to the Hot Wallet Podcast. This podcast is conversations about active investing and digital assets. Be sure to click follow on whatever platform you're listening to this on, and check us out on the fountain.fm app, you can send us some Satoshis on the Bitcoin Lightning Network and support this podcast. That would be huge. I'd really appreciate that. Okay, so what is this podcast about this one specifically is about your morning. I don't know about you. But I thrive on consistency and I thrive on routine. As an active investor, I want to get up know what to expect, know what I need to do, and then get to work. And I find a lot of investors are very willy nilly when it comes to their morning routine. But if you study some of the most high-level performers in the world, a lot of them have a routine that they stick to, especially in the morning to start their day off, right. I can't think of any multimillionaire that comes out and says, Yeah, you know what, I just winged it. And then it worked out great. Now I'm a millionaire. Like that. That doesn't happen. You know, Jeff Bezos didn't go yeah, just showed up and got lucky. And now I'm a billionaire here on a yacht. No, of course not. They have a strategy, they have a routine, and they are intentional. And that's what we need to be. And so what I'm about to tell you, is going to sound easy, it will be easy. It's easy to do. But it's also easy not to do. And so what I want you to do for the next 60 days, is follow all or some of these steps, you can do one, really focus on it, really make it part of your day, and then build on but go at your own pace. Just stick to doing it every day. If you miss a day, okay, fine, but don't miss two. The first thing I do in the morning after showering, of course, is I get out my journal. Now just saying the word journal may make you cringe. I know it did for me, before I was doing all of this. But now, I look forward to sitting down with a hot cup of coffee, opening up my journal, and thinking about what I'm grateful for. So every morning, I write out things that I'm grateful for. And here's how I do it. I write 10 things a day five, that are in the here. And now as in, I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful for spending time with my son last night. I'm grateful that I was interviewed recently on a podcast and had a great time. What are five things that you're grateful for and the here and now I want you to write those down every single morning and really be grateful for it really think about what you're writing, don't treat it, like an intellectual exercise where you're just trying to check a box and say, Yeah, see, I did it. It's fine. No, no, the whole point is for you to actually reflect on the things around you and the here and now that you're so glad that they exist. Maybe it's something physical, oh, I'm grateful that I got this new phone, or I'm grateful that this trade worked out. And now I can buy this thing that I've wanted. Think about it, write it down, and reflect on that moment. Then once you've done that, write five things that you're grateful for, that you want to happen in the future, but write them as if they're in the here and now. And so if money is something that you want to come to you in the future, say that you're grateful for your monthly income, you know, whatever that income might be, let's say it's $100,000 a month. In that case, you would write, I'm happy and grateful that I make $100,000 a month and I love it. Or maybe it's a goal you want to achieve, like having your own successful podcast, then you would write I'm grateful to have a successful podcast that people love and get value from. And again, really think about it by doing this future thinking and goal planning. It will point you in the direction that you really want to go. You know, most people don't even know what they want. In fact, if you ask the people around you, Hey, what's your goal right now, nine times out of 10 they're gonna say they don't have one. But by writing what you're grateful for in the future, it will help you keep your laser focus on that goal and the things you want. And maybe that goal is going to change, you know, maybe from day to day, at one point you want a successful podcast, then maybe the next day, you're like, No, no, I have that already. Maybe I want a car like a Porsche or something like that. Like really be specific about what it is that you really want. You'll want to get in the practice of feeling and being grateful for everything you have in your life, regardless on what's happening in the world around you. And by doing that, it will center you it will bring you back down to earth. And what I found is it actually makes the days feel longer. And I get more out of the days, it's not like I'm just trying to get through the day anymore, because I start my day centered, remembering all the great things that I have going for me now, and the things that I want to have going for me in the future. And so gratitude is number one. 

I'd also recommend having a few I AM statements, these are things that you write down, again, to remind you who you are, and what you want, I am happy, I am healthy, I am wealthy, I am set up for success, I am going to achieve my dreams, they can be short like that, or they can be long, a great example of one I use is "I am deserving of money and a good steward of the dollars I receive". You know, for me personally, money has always kind of been an issue. I didn't grow up with money. For most of my life, I didn't have a job that paid me a lot of money. And so being comfortable with high dollar values, especially when you're an active investor is something that you, you literally have to train yourself to handle. So money is a big one, I am happy and grateful for the dollars I receive, I am happy and grateful that I can make money consistently in the market, I am happy and grateful that I manage my risk properly, and cut my losses quickly. You know, something like that. Really focus on what you're struggling with. And then talk about how grateful you are that you are able to handle it. Now there's more that comes with this. Obviously, there's discipline that's involved and whatnot. But I'm just talking about gratitude right now and how I use gratitude to position myself into what I actually want to achieve. So having a strong im statement, especially around money, I think is really important. Thirdly, move around, move your body, maybe it's a walk around the block, or maybe it's a few minutes on a trampoline, we have a trampoline here in my office. And every now and again, if I need to move around, I'll just jump on the trampoline, put some music on and get my blood flowing for a couple of minutes. And especially in the morning, that can wake me up and set me up for a great day. Meditation is also really important. A few minutes of quiet thinking with your eyes closed with deep breaths will help set you up to relax you for what you're about to do, especially if you are an active investor. Next is auto suggestion. This is something that I use, especially if I'm about to do something that I don't really want to do, or don't have the energy to do. But I know I have to do. For example, someone asked me to emcee a wedding one time, and it was for a friend. And you know, that's fine. I don't mind doing that. But honestly, I kind of get nervous in front of audiences in front of people. And so speaking publicly, as easy as it may sound for someone with my background, it's always something that I get nervous about. And so auto suggestion is you telling yourself how exciting it is that you're about to do this thing that you don't really want to do. And so what that is, is spending a few minutes usually in front of the mirror or ideal when I'm walking around the house. And I just say how happy and grateful I am that I get to do this thing. I'm so happy and grateful that I get to emcee this wedding for my friend, I love my friend, and I'm going to do my best to make his special day really memorable. You know, something like that. Like I'm spitballing here, you want to talk about and focus on the positives. You don't want any negativity, not like, oh, even though I'm nervous, no, none of that. Only positives, and really get that inside your subconscious mind. Say it over and over and over until you're really psyched up and ready to go. You know, for some people, it's Oh, I'm so happy and grateful I get to have dinner with my in laws. You know, if you don't like your in laws, maybe that's something you can use to really set yourself up to be like, You know what, I'm so happy and grateful. I get to have dinner with my in laws and connect on a deeper level with these people who are part of my life. Again, I'm making things up here, but you get the idea. And trust me, this is something I actually do. And it really does help. auto-suggestion is huge. What we want to do is put that positive reinforcement into our subconscious mind. And then when the moment comes, when it's time to perform, we are there we are ready. And we know that we can succeed because we told ourselves that music for me is also a great morning motivator. Sometimes what I'll do is I'll put on one of my favorite songs and and it's not uncommon for me to listen to that song, maybe five or six times just to kind of get myself psyched up and wake myself up, especially after a night of late night hockey or something. So those are just a few steps for you to be able to own your morning gratitude, focusing on your I AM statements, writing down your goals, doing auto-suggestion, especially when you're about to do something that you really don't want to do. And meditation, closing your eyes, having some deep breaths, and getting emotionally involved with what you're about to do that day. These are just a few. There's a ton more, and I'm sure I'll build on this later in the future in another podcast, but I wanted to share this with you, especially now that the market is so frustrating, it's choppy, it's sloppy, and it's hard to make money in this tape. So I hope you found this helpful. If you did, click Like click subscribe, follow the Hot Wallet Podcast and check out our website at hot wallet.ca for past episodes that you may have missed. I'll see you next time.