“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” — Benjamin Franklin

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What your trading plan should include:

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• The rules of your system
• The times you plan to trade
• Trade vs no-trade conditions
• A playbook of entries
• Journal of trades

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Sticking to your trading plan is arguably the most important part of your trading experience. Your ability to stick by it, is the difference between a profitable trading career, and the unfortunate results of 80% of retail traders. 

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For many traders, failure does not stem from a lack of skill at reading charts. It’s the inability to withstand the psychological woes of losses. As we’ve explored earlier, losses can come in many forms — positions taken based on greed, revenge and even fear of missing out.

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Not having a plan leads to you flipping between looking for buying and selling opportunities throughout the day — leading to destructive habits like *overtrading*. It’s extremely unhealthy to have two biases for the day.

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Some days, you won’t catch anything sticking to one bias. Understand that this is FINE. Take it as a character building day to fortify your discipline. You should be proud of yourself for sticking to your trading plan.

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Accept it. Fortify your discipline, realize rewards over the long term.

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