Fire up the engines

I've finally succeeded in negotiating a 5-hour study block with my wife. I have thought about this a lot and I think it could be exactly what I am needing. The problem is I live and breathe forex constantly yet I am completely frustrated from a total lack of study time. I need time where I can focus intensely on the tasks at hand, and to avoid the constant scatter-brain I have when at home. Tonight is my first trial of what I hope to carve into a permanent weekly study block. This particular block of time (Thursday evenings from about 6pm to 11pm) may be ideal for both myself and my family.

My primary objective is to get back into the trading I love so much. But my personal discipline will absolutely not allow this until I have completed the necessary prerequisites -- namely, development of new trading strategies as the old ones I was using are no longer viable (for various reasons). However, over the years I have learned how to build new strategies and I am looking forward to sharing those procedures here.

One thing I will try to do is set an agenda for myself to maximize each studyblock. I find that I am easily distracted... but if I have a bullet list of items to accomplish, I am much more likely to spend that time productively. I would like to go home exhausted at midnight feeling as if I have made major progress. That would make me extremely happy. I'm the type of guy who needs to see progress -- even if just in baby steps.

Study agenda Thursday 7/31 five-hour timeblock

• Formally answer all questions on the StepsToSuccess page
  
• Review RulesToLiveBy page and ensure everything up to date
  
• Establish the ResearchGoals page
  
• Forex Tester software -- need to "figure out" before trial runs out
  
  • How to load history data?
    
  • Is 1min -> tick interpolated going to be adequate?
    
  • Figure out how to step forward and backward
    
  • Determine timezone adjustment if needed
    
  • What "procedure" will I follow for running the test?
    
  • What indicators could work, and are available also in MT4?
  
  
• Prep for strategy discovery testing
  
  • Locate the survey form I put together
    
  • Identify which pair(s) I will focus on for this round of tests
    
  • Identify specific trading hours that will be studied
    
  • Identify specific indicators that will be observed
    
  • Begin writing out my formal testing procedure
  
  
• Begin envisioning how survey test data will be interpreted
  
• Identify specific items that need to be converted to strategy rules