Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. This was my first Thanksgiving alone in many years. I went into NYC and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. It was cold but fun. R&E and Diane invited me for dinner but I needed to be my own person and not rely on others or feel sorry for myself. I did go to Diane's after dinner for games and desert, it was fun.

I now have 3 days to do whatever I want before returning to work on Monday. I can do something useful or I can waste my time! Which will it be?

This morning I read a few pages of "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill I just finished page 39 and still in the introduction and talked about the power of desire. It has a lot of similarities in concept as "The Slight Edge" but is story based rather than practical instruction. There is one section that is practical and it lists 6 steps to achieving riches.
1. Fix the amount of money you desire, a real number.
2. Determine what you are willing to pay (sacrifice?) to get it.
3. Establish a date when you will have it.
4. Create a plan to get there and start immediately.
5. Write down your mission, the results of steps 1 through 4.
6. Read your mission twice a day: when you wake up and before you go to sleep. As you read, see and feel and believe you have already achieved your mission.

These six steps are aimed at money but apply equally to any dream. Sound familiar? It seems like I have read this same advice in several other books.

The basis of "The Slight Edge" has also been with me this morning: things that are easy to do and things that are easy not to do. I have already chosen to do a few things that are easy to do that I would not have done without that simple thought!

Simple thoughts that I will make into a habit:
- Things that are easy to do and things that are easy not to do
- Feel the fear ... but do it anyway
- What's the worst that can happen, what's the best?
- No decision is wrong, decision alternatives give different life experience!

The ES is not providing many tradable patterns. Austin is thinking he may not trade through the end of the year! I will use that time to sim trade to work on minimizing losses.
There are some items that still need to be worked on:
- The trade plan (business plan)
- When do I start trading real money
- The trading rules (entries, add on entries & trade management)

Today I made 2 trades a long for +1 and a short for -2.25 (slipped stop exit). The account P/L for the week sits at $0! (excluding commissions)

I signed up for Austin's Intensified Trading!
I bought a 2nd display and more RAM for my computer
Austin is only trading 18 more days in 2013 and I have 7 days vacation so I will be taking those vacation days as mornings. Jan 2014 I will see how it's going but probably request part time. July 1st, 2014 I will retire!
My IB account does not have enough to trade real money but I can put in up to $6500 per year in for an IRA (over 60). I will use the PSA money to fill it up to $8k.
I am trading the SIM account on Ninjatrader using IB data feed. I have the charts set up the same way that Austin does (5 min and 2500 volume).
I will need to purchase a Ninjatrader license to trade for real money.
I will trade one contract (with the option to add a contract with no extra risk) per $6K. This is less than a 2% risk per trade based on 2 point stop.
I will start with one contract at $8K and move to two contracts at $12K, 3 contracts at $20K, 4 contracts at $30K and 5 contracts at $50K.
If the initial $8K falls below $6K I will need to rethink ...
All profit above $60K will be moved to a non-trading account for use as income.
Today is day 3. The first three morning were poor trading conditions. This morning lost $150 on 2 trades with Austin but his afternoon I made my own apex trade for $250 (Austin was not on GoToMeeting).
At the end of day 1 the account was at -$62.50.
At the end of day 2 the account was at -$25
At the end of day 3 the account was at +$75
Not wonderful but positive under difficult conditions.
This feels good!

Only six days since the last entry asking about my priorities and change has already happened! The major priorities stay pretty much the same. I have made good progress on the Property Settlement Agreement activities. Done nothing on the oil situation, made good progress on de-cluttering and simplifying which also moves towards preparing the house for sale. I am on track with the 3 thirty day challenges.

The big new item is Austin Passamonte's final CM Intensified Trading course. Remember my first dream is to be a successful trader, well, this is the opportunity not to be missed. The fee is $997 (for lifetime members) and runs from Nov 18, 2013 through June 30th, 2014. That's less than $10/day for coaching! Of course, this opportunity also provides it's challenges. Before I go there, I just want to mention something from The Slight Edge: "set a goal but don't plan as plans will typically go awry". The concept here is to be open to opportunities and here it is.

The challenges:
- retiring from Mindray or going part time.
- making sure I can pay expenses while still learning (don't expect the trading to pay expenses).
- making sure I can get the house refinanced while on Mindray's payroll.
- keeping in touch with my Mindray friends if I retire.
- taking care of the oil situation.

It's been a while. I went to the UK for a vacation after the last entry and had a wonderful time with college friends some I hadn't seen in 30 years! I returned to find that 11 people had been laid off. The combination of the good vacation and Mindray's disregard for it's employees has given me motivation to take action towards another career.

Last Thursday the divorce was finalized. That requires me to take care of a number of things to comply with the property settlement agreement. The oil situation is at a standstill. Work is very challenging. Last weekend I spent time on my finances: income, expenses and net worth. I calculated the current situation, and two possible situations relating to retiring with/without(renting) the house. Selling the house gives me a lot my freedom and flexibility, but I will need to resolve the oil situation before I can sell the house.

So what are the major priorities for the next 90 days?
1. Take care of the property settlement agreement activities.
2. Resolve the oil situation
3. De-clutter the house
4. Prepare the house for sale

Four major items are more than enough to focus on. As each one is completed I will look for the next priority (passive income or trading).

What are the daily activities (outside of the 90 day priorities)that I am committed to?
1. 30 day tabata challenge (I've completed 10 days)
2. 30 day pull up challenge (installed the pull up bar today, so day 1!)
3. 30 day journal challenge using the "daily activity reminder" (again I'm at day 1)

Once I have completed the 30 day tabata challenge and it has become habit I will add another 30 day challenge. Three at any one time is enough.