Create Your Trading Plan or Investment Plan and Write it Down in Specific Precise Language Before You Trade

Don't confuse trading rules with a black-box system.  Your trading plan should be a set of Rules, which you follow implicitly time and again.  Sure, you can build in some flexibility, combinations and additions to these Rules, but write them down, understand them and implement them.  Also keep them handy, particularly when you're trading or making a trade decision.

A mind map is the best way to achieving this in a direct and visual way.  A mind map is simply an illustration, like if you imagine a series of branches off a central tree, where you're using different colors and symbols to depict the rules, as opposed to simply writing them down in a list.  Ideally, you should do both.

The Rules need to embrace when to enter, when to exit, when to use a specific options strategy (if options are in the plan) and when to activate your Stop Losses (which often change depending on the strategy you're trading).