Why You Must Have This One Thing If You Want To Succeed

I know not everyone is organised and efficient to the maximum all day every day but there are areas of our lives where if we weren't quite as focussed, our lives could start to fall apart rather quickly.

I am thinking in the main here of how we run our day to day lives, how we use time to ensure we do the right things at the right time and how we carefully monitor our finances.

You must know someone who is always late, or who is always forgetting where they are supposed to be at certain times or who is forever running out of money because they have not budgeted correctly.

Some people can manage their lives in a haphazard way, others less so but by being organised and have some sort of structure to your life, helps you live your life on an even keel and deal with those surprise events that always appear when youe least need them.

Guilty as charged

I am as guilty of being late on occasions as anyone and have had my fair share of reckless moments financially over the years, so I know it can be very difficult and very hard to deal with, especially when you are young and put in charge of your own money for the first time on a daily basis.

When I first bought a house in my early twenties with a freind of mine, we needed a deposit of £1,000 each.

Back then that was probably equivalent to about five weeks wages I am guessing at the time and whilst I should have been putting a little away each week for the previous few months, I just hadn't and when it came close to the day where we had to hand over the lolly for the deposit, I had to confess to may family that I didn't have the money saved at all.

It was not a good time for me but thankfully I was able to borrow the deposit from my parents and go ahead with the purchase.

A few years later when we had sold the house and were both able to buy a flat each, once again I neglected my financial responsibilities.

Getting paid in cash each week, it was a lot easier to go out socially at the weekends and blow my wages, than it was to pay the mortgage. I must have been stupid!

Once again I was given a get out jail card by the Building Society and allowed to pay back the debt I had acrued over a period of time and move on.

After these events I did learn a lesson regards my bills and just how important these are to pay on time, but I have also been very foolhardy with my betting a number of times too.

Around the same time as I bought the flat I would probably be using betting shops and I reel back in horror when I think of the number of times I would withdraw money from the ATM to throw back at the next stupid bet.

When online betting really took off, I admit I found it hard to stop depositing more money on a number of occasions too after a losing day, or losing week, just because it was so easy.

As it is even easier to do so today.

It can be a horrible feeling to see just how much you have deposited and lost in a short space of time when you look at your bank or bookmer statement, as it just doesn't feel like real money at the time.

I am not saying I am glad I lost money before but it can help to have been in the situation so you know what it feels like so if you see it looming again, know what to do to stop it from happening.

A solid solution

Whether you have had similar experiences with money or you haven't, the major thing that helped me straighten out my betting misdemeanours, was to set up a dedicated betting bank in a separate bank account, with a completely different bank.

Definitely one of the best things I have ever done. No question.

The heart of your betting operation, has to be your betting bank.

A dedicated bank of money, set aside for betting alone, can and will give you the Professional feel and rightly so.

You will have heard it before but why not run your betting, like you would run a business? In fact it is crazy to think that anyone wouldn't!

Money out and money in, is the same whether it is for the weekly shopping, the mortgage, the cashflow of a business or betting.

It is a simple thing to do yet one that is ignored by the majority of people, who end up sad, depressed and in need of help and direction.

But it doesn't need to be that way.

Setting up a betting bank will give you a psychological advantage as well as a more stable footing, because once you have this 'bank' set aside, you can start to work out a betting strategy that will help you move towards the win zone.

The size of your betting bank will then determine your staking, so that you should never be able to lose the whole amount.

If at all possible, I suggest dividing what bank you have into two and put one aside in case of an emergency but having a set amount away from your day to day finances, is key here.

You can save a small amount each week or month to add to a reserve bank and that will give you confidence in the fact that whatever you spend on betting, will in no way affect your normal every day life.

If you want to start with a decent betting bank and really give this a go - and why wouldn't you? - take a couple of months away from betting and save up for your new start.

Depending on the size of your stakes, you need to be able to get through the inevitable losing runs, but having your bank set aside will leave you feeling confident that you can and will.

You also need to know what your average odds will be so that you can guage what sort of losing runs you will get, because the strike rate of success will determine how long you need to hold out for without a winner.

For example, if you have a strike rate of 50%, yes we would all be happy with that, you will have a losing run of about 10 over the period of 1,000 bets and the more bets you have over time, the bigger these losing runs will be.

Don't forget that you could have a losing run of 10 and then another losing run of 10 on the trot in this fictional 1,000 bets, so always plan and be prepared.

Nothing will happen in a neat and tiday way, even if you are set up properly, so expect the worst to happen as it probably will.

And a 50% strike rate is a dream for most punters because 10% - 20% would be more like it and even then I bet most would be delighted with anything like this.

Obviously your strike rate will depend on the average odds that you are taking and this will impact your strike rate and losing runs.

But don't be concerned about this, as losing runs are inevitable and setting up this betting bank will allow you to get through the very worst of times with little fuss or worry, as long as you get set up correctly at the beginning.

The best way of staking in my opinion is to bet a % of the bank on each bet and then use compound staking to increase your bets as your bank grows.

I would say you want to start betting 1% of your bank on each bet, so if you have a bank of £200 you wil be starting with a stake of £2.

As you start off, do not be concerned that you are only betting £2 or £3 each time. It is the discipline of betting to a set stake depending on your set bank, that is important.

With due dilligence and a sensible plan, your bank will grow in time as will your stakes, so if you bet 1% of the bank each time, your £2 stake will increase to £3 when your bank reaches £300 and so on.

Staking a percentage of your bank is probably the simplest and most effective way of betting without getting too complicated and as long as you are betting straight win bets.

Others aim for a certain amount of winnings on each bet and this will determine the stake.

If you aim to win £20 on each winner, you will place a £5 bet if the horse is 4/1 and a £1 stake if the horse is 20/1.

You could also bet different amounts on different price bands, so as an example bet 3% of the bank on odds of 3/1 or less, 2% on odds over 3/1 and under 8/1 and 1% on all bets over 8/1.

Both these staking plans work on the fact that statistically the horses with shorter odds do win more often.

Whatever you decide to do, get yourself a plan of action that you are happy with so that once you have your betting bank together you are ready to get started in the right frame of mind.

Shortlist review

# Get a betting bank together with an amount that you are comfortable with that is totally separte from your day to day finances. If need be save this bank up over the next two to three months.

# If possible, take a look back at your last three months betting and work out the average price of your winning bets and base any strategy around these average odds.

# Decide on the % of the bank you are comfortable staking on each bet, or what staking plan you wish to use.

# Understand, you WILL NOT make a fortune overnight, in fact you should accept that you are not going to make a fortune full stop.

# At first be happy with a profit and learn what has been working best for you and keep growing as you learn more.

# You are not a 'tart' or a 'wuss' if you start betting with only £2 stakes. You are sensible and definitely on the right path, not prepared to risk your finances on a whim to 'get rich quick'.

# Winning is fun, however much you stake. Watching your bank increase is amazing whether you are betting £2 or £20 each time and it is all relative so the more you bet, the more you stand to lose.

# Decide on roughly how many bets you are going to place each day and stick to this by making your selections early and not by betting on 'something' just as a race is about to get going. There really is a massive amount of racing in the UK and tomorrow really is another day.

# Your betting bank WILL go down and stay down over periods of time. You CANNOT win or make a profit every day so accept this and think like a businessman, in that it is all about the long term success.

# Find a professional way of finding and selecting your bets.

# Have fun because you really can do this! It will take a new disciplined attitude if you do not have it already but I know that you can do this 100%. Just believe it can be done and stay focussed. Every day!

So take some time to get some spare monet together, then choose a date when you are going to start out with your new betting bank.