It takes one of two things to become a full time trader: an incredible amount of time, or a degree. For many of us, neither of these are a possibility. Why? Because real life gets in the way. Whether it’s family, friends, career, or the unexpected curveballs life throws our way, it’s hard to carve out the level of time and attention it takes to make this a career. But that isn’t all bad, not by any means. How? Because even in a part time situation, you can still earn a pretty impressive amount. Now, that’s no excuse to be lazy. As is true of everything in life, even treating trading as a part time gig takes effort, focus and, above all, discipline. Here’s the best way to get started, and if it sounds simple, that’s because it is. If you want to be earning extra, and want to get ahead, the first thing you need to do is wake up an hour earlier. Yes, it’s no fun, and no one wants to do it. Especially those of us cursed with long commutes. But nevertheless, the time won’t appear unless you make it. So set that alarm clock an hour earlier for 30 days. If you can do it for 30 days, you can do it for a year, and if you can do it for a year, you can do it for a decade, and on and on. First: check in on your accounts. From your savings to your checking to your IRAs to the pennies on top of your fridge. Have an exacting knowledge of where your money is at all times. This will help you know how fluid you are, and how risky you can be with said fluidity. Second: Find ways to gain more capital. Raid the internet every day until you find something you like. Personally, I use Try2BFunded, which gives me access to $100,000 of someone else’s money to trade with. I get to take home 60% of the profits. It took me about 6 weeks to get past their qualifying round, but even that fell pretty comfortably under my hour-every-morning tactic. Third: Read up. And I mean read. Not just skim headlines or put on Jim Cramer. Pick a deeper dive publication and commit to reading one major article a day. Whether it’s The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, or whatever you choose, the act of committing to reading will embolden your mind and perspective. Fourth: Incorporate your friends. There’s no better way to engage with something than by building community. If you can, encourage your friends to get in on it. Make inside jokes about investing, talk trash to each other, support each other. Balancing out the seriousness of investing with a level of humor and fraternity will make it a lot more fun. And it’ll make you tune in more often, turning that hour into two hours, which might just turn into three.