I am often asked by those who have not visited my trading cave how I organize all my stuff. I write, I read, I trade, I tweet, etc. in this space so I’ll give you a little tour with a few lessons thrown in along the way.
Let’s start with the right side of my desk.
AN ORGANIZED MESS
This is where I do all my lost art writing (with actual pen, pencil, and paper). I enjoy putting all my thoughts down on paper before transferring it over to electronic storage and I do so in several ways. I use MOLESKIN notebooks (the plain and simple black ones there on the upper right corner of my desk). I take one with me wherever I go just in case a thought crosses my mind that I need to commit to paper. I am old and do forget things more often than I used to when I was in my twenties, thirties, and early forties. MOLESKIN notebooks are legendary according to the literature accompanying them. They were used by famous literary artists. I figure I am in good company so I’ll keep using them until they go out of print again, which I am sure they will one day when the ipads take over. I have filled dozens of these with ideas that have made it into my crosshairs trading manual for CTU (top center) and many more will eventually be in my forthcoming book. I also use large desktop writing pads. There are three on my desk at the moment. I have a big desk. Right now I am working on flow charts and other visual aides for my manual, book, and mentorship group studies. Some of these ideas will make it to the blog as well. The writing pads stay at home. They are too big to carry anywhere. Besides, I don’t want to come across as too nerdy.
DETAILS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHAOS
I cannot read one book at a time. I’ve tried. I just cannot do it. Several friends and blogging acquaintances have soon to be published books (JOSH BROWN and ADAM GRIMES to name but two) and once they land on my desk whatever I am reading at the time will have to be set aside. That’s just the way it is. But many of the books (to the far right and immediate left) are for research; therefore, not really designed for reading at one sitting. Who has the time anymore? Notice also that I have a stack of books (right bookcase and under my manual). These are required reading for the next mentorship group. Jason Zweig should have seen a huge surge in sales this past week! By the way, I picked up the latest from Carl Richards THE BEHAVIOR GAP. It’s pretty good. It’s one of the eight I am reading right now. I’ll finish it in approximately 23 and a half days.
I have a few other odds and ends. My obligatory ipod that I slip on after the kids get home from school. I do not like to be disturbed when I am figuring out what pad to write on or what book to pick up next. Glass of water has replaced soft drinks. Ruler for drawing straight lines. Once in a while I use it to draw trend lines but lately that has been a rare occurrence; more support and resistance lines than trend lines. More loss lines than profit targets. Don’t pay any attention to the room across from mine; the one on the other side of the foyer. My wife has yet to pack away all the Christmas decorations. That’s her mess; this is mine.
Let’s move on to the tech side of things. Very simple stuff here. Two big monitors. One is for trading and the other for blogging. I use TradeStation and have all my indicators and workspaces programmed and stored there. I provide the workspace and indicators to crosshairs traders so they can have a guide to understanding the market. I use the TWEETDECK and STOCKTWITS platform for keeping up with news I can use and articles for my THINKING TRADER posts. Phil Pearlman does a great job over there at ST and is to be commended. I follow all the ST bloggers. These are essential. Headset is for my live CTU webinars and various SKYPE discussions with friends and traders. Eye drops (to the left). I do stare at monitors all day. Pen holder (made by my middle child and required to stay right where it is) has a highlighter in it. The pens are stuck in all those books I read. They are for note taking and underlining. I won’t ever be able to sell my used books on Amazon. There are too many notes and highlights and underlined sentences in most of them. And if the MOLESKINS go out of print I’ll just use all my books for note taking.
THE SIMPLE TECH SIDE TO MY MESS
I won’t share the other part of my desk. The left hand side has all kinds of crap on it, like bills and unopened mail from gurus. Got one today about a .49 stock going to $250.00 in the next three months. How do these people know this stuff? There is a printer and another computer for my kids to use since I do not allow them to use mine. Viruses you know. I do not have a TV in here. That’s right…no CNBC. Don’t need it. I learned a long time ago that noise is worthless. Besides I am hard of hearing and do not need anymore noise.
Now you know where I hang out during the day. It’s my trading cave. Not that special but it works for me and that is all that matters. I simply trust that what starts in here is worth publishing out there.
Thanks for showing us your stock cave. It is nice to know how simple things are in your cave.
Enjoyed the tour.