Every good investing decision is expensive the first time and cheap forever after — but only if you write it down.
Three habits, borrowed from very different work, compound together.
Externalize once. Rules you keep re-deciding in your head are a tax you pay repeatedly. Put them in one document you actually reread, and the hard thinking is done for good.
Say it in one line. If you can't state why you'd own something in a single plain sentence, the reason isn't clear enough to act on. Cleverness hides weak logic; plain language exposes it.
Assume decay. Criteria that fit one market quietly stop fitting the next. What worked last year isn't wrong — it's aging. Schedule a review before results force one.
A process you can read, explain, and refresh beats any single lucky call.
What's one rule you follow but have never actually written down?