Disciplined trading is like...being on a diet

Total gross profits:  $100.00  +2.00 ES points
Total trades:  1
Accuracy:  100.0%
Execution score: 100.00%
Opportunity cost: $0.00

One and done, all before lunch.  

Had a signal line up with Renato's DS alert, got my +2.00, and ran since I couldn't really make much sense of the choppy charts today.  Went out to lunch, hoping that when I returned, volatility would have returned.  No luck.  

But I had one new discovery, Taco Bell's new Doritos tacos are pretty good, although a bit gimmicky.  And it really made me feel like buying a bag of Doritos, so their marketing plan must be working.  

And to cap off the trading day, I actually fell asleep for a bit around the market close.  Yes, it was just that kinda day.

Disciplined trading vs. being on a diet
Speaking of junk food, I made somewhat of a realization today that trading well with discipline is almost like successfully being on a strict diet.  It's very clear what you need to do in order to maintain your diet, but very difficult to "stay on the wagon."

When I've tried to diet in the past:

• I've always felt a bit hungry all the time (need action, trade more!)
• Or craved certain fried/sweet/salty foods you're not supposed to eat (rogue trades!)
• Or just decided at 11:00 PM that you're just going "F" the diet and finish a pint of Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream (go on TILT!).  

For the record, I've never finished a pint of ice cream in one sitting.

Probably because I'm not quite there yet with my trading discipline, I admit there are times when I feel a certain sense of missing out or very restricted when I'm trading according to my plan.  Sometimes, it seems like everyone around me is making great trades with money falling onto them from the skies, while I'm sitting on my hands, waiting while eating plain tofu and water.  

Or, I feel like I'm watching profitable trades go by that I've deliberately avoided, since they didn't quite meet the criteria for a valid setup.  And of course, I conveniently forget about all those trades I decided to pass on that ended up losing money.

But I realize that it's not about "others vs. me."  I am my own worst enemy.  So having a trading plan and being disciplined to that trading plan is essential for me, as I have just experienced over the past 25 trades with good results.  

Over time, I need to recognize that maintaining this level of focus and discipline is the nature of a successful trading business; this is what "normal" should feel with regards to the level of sacrifice I need to make in order to maintain the highest levels of discipline; this is one of the biggest challenges I have to overcome in order to become a consistently profitable trader.  

I'm getting there, slowly but surely.