One of the biggest misconceptions about playing the market is that it is easy money. Sure you may luck into a monster trade and hit big, but for most of us success requires work. In order to work productively you need to have a plan. Organizing your days dedicated to trading stocks will make a world of difference.

The first step to better organization is to plan out when you will be researching, and when you will be trading. If you have the availability to trade any day of the week that can easily turn into a disjointed mish-mash of trading on whims. Pick out certain days of the week to practice stock trading. Look at your schedule for work and home life and make a plan to dedicate a certain time to stock trading. Every trader is different, and has widely varied times available to trade stocks. If you find that you don’t have much time available during market hours then you will have to plan to do your research and put in orders the night before. The whole idea here is to set up a schedule that you will religiously put in time to become a better stock trader. If you can’t keep a set day every week then choose a day (Sundays are usually good) to spend a few minutes planning out when you will be concentrating on your investments that week.

I’m a big believer in using pen and paper for my time management activities. There are many great electronic calendars that offer good functionality, but I like to work with a daily planner on my desk. All of my stock trading takes place on the computer, so I find that being able to organize when I’m going to trade without ever touching the computer is a great buffer. Use whatever tool suits your personality, but don’t be afraid to experiment with alternatives that you haven’t tried. You may just find one that works for you.

The organization techniques that I am describing are useful for more than just stock trading training. Anything that requires you to set aside time for an activity can benefit from a little planning. Whether it’s a picnic with the family or a night at the pub watching the game, if you plan out your time you will feel like you are in more control of your life.

You have heard the phrase “time is money” – I’d certainly heard it all my life – but it wasn’t until I started my own home business that I realized just how difficult it was to stay focused now that I didn’t have a boss asking me what I was up to – or even a separate place of work!

Initially I started my business part-time – and oddly – while I was fitting my business in around my social life and a job it wasn’t too bad. But once I went full-time my productivity plummeted – too many choices, too many hours – suddenly the only thing that was urgent was checking my favorite forums or email!

I suddenly realized that I had to get my self organized and needed to apply some principals of time management. I am generally not the most organized person in the world – but I suddenly had lists and list of “to dos”. Unfortunately I then forgot about the lists and kept on wasting time of Facebook and Twitter!

This year though I really have made a serious effort and to learn how to improve my Time Management. I scouted around and came across an Italian technique called the “Pomodoro Technique”.  Pomodoro means tomato in Italian, and is the name of a common kitchen timer there. The idea is basically time boxing – you work solidly for 25 minutes on a single task and then give yourself a five minute break.  After 2 hours you take a longer break. While you work the ticking of the “pomodoro” (or in my case the software equivalent) will either drive you crazy – or, somewhat to my surprise, actually help you focus. The system is deliberately low-tech and all you need is a pen, paper and some form of timer. The interesting thing is that while I thought I was working around 10 hours a day – the reality was a whole lot different … The trick is – while you are working and suddenly a very urgent item springs to mind (organize the kitchen cupboards, check the email) – you don’t act on it – you write the item down and keep working on what you are doing. At the end of the 25 minutes – you either give the “urgent” interuption its own pomodoro, do it (if its really quick) – or often find that you don’t “need” to do it any longer!

Its not rocket science, it doesn’t cost a cent, and the Pomodoro method is certainly helping me organize my time better – maybe it will help you to?