Tips for waking up early?

#1

I’m on Pacific time, work in the evenings, and often don’t get to bed until midnight or later. I want to be able to get up for the 8am (5am for me) trading. I can do this for one day, but I’m almost guaranteed to fall right back asleep the next time. Taking a nap after trading helps but isn’t always going to happen. I used to regularly run off of four to five hours of sleep, the difference then being that I had the need to get up in time for work as motivation.

I have my mind set on this time frame. I see it as worth the trouble of dragging myself out of bed on less than an ideal amount of sleep. My body disagrees. I’ve searched online for ideas and am considering getting an app that has you perform math problems before turning off. Has anyone tried that, or have anything else that works?

#2

Coffee? I deliver pizza at night, and get up at 8am, so this is what i use, copious amounts of coffee. Also, there are days that I do take a nap too. I dont know if this will work for you, but I can’t sleep when there is music on, so I use this to my benefit, by trading with music on. I use iheart radio, which will give you whatever station that you want, and whatever type of music you want too. I would suggest hyper happy wake up/dance music.

8^)

#3

Biggest suggestion is dont’ wake up and crawl to your trading desk. Get up walk around the block take a shower and grab a light breakfast. This will take a bit more time but does not have to take that much. Do this for a month and your body will just start waking up at the same time automatically. It will take amonth but if you get active when you wake up your body will get in that rhythm and go to bed earlier if you need more than 5 hours of sleep :slight_smile:

#4

When I worked 12 hour shifts that would routinely turn into 16-20 hour days, I used to put my alarm clock in the bathroom, set it as loud as it would go. That way I would have to get out of bed, walk into the bathroom to turn the alarm clock off, and then I would walk right into a very cold shower.

Also, counter intuitively, don’t go right for caffeine as soon as you get up. Give your body a chance to get running by itself. I would wait at least 60-90 minutes before I would hug the coffee maker!!! For some reason it works. Of course make sure you aren’t drinking caffeine shortly before bed, either.

Brad

#5

I’ll see what I can do with these suggestions. If I can get up and out of my room I’m good. Problem is that I tend to lie right back down, then next thing I know it’s four hours later and I’ve missed out. Gets frustrating to see strong moves that I slept through.

If all else fails I found a phone app that has you take a picture of something, then when the alarm goes off you have to take another shot of it to shut it off. Maybe give it a really annoying tone as opposed to something loud or shrill, and that should do it.

#6

Is the 8AM ET start critical? Is that the only time you can trade? I say this because if you are really having that much trouble getting up, your trading will suffer over time. A few days of being tired sure no problem, but week after week … Why not look at trading the US open at 630 PT on US Indices? Gives you an extra hour of sleep. Just a thought…

#7

Maybe I should. I have this idea that I should be getting started at the best possible time. Considering the horrible trading day I’m having (one very bad trade, multiple good trades missed) I’m more inclined to consider it.