Coined by the great Mohammad Ali , "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face" is a phrase you hear a lot around the trading world and if you have ever been "punched in the face" then you know what I'm talking about. See, there are many great articles out there that discuss the idea of creating a trading plan and many of them are great resources, but many fail to plan for what they will do when their plan doesn't seem to work.
Traditionally anyone who teaches the idea of creating a trading plan will have entry criteria, profit taking plans, stop loss plans and some money management ideas as well. What we should really focus on is the "what if all hell breaks loose" part of the plan. Many new traders have never experienced a truly wild market like we saw back around the financial crisis. Anyone who had a trading plan could not have possibly planned for that and that sent the markets into a volatility panic.
Think about what you will do if disaster strikes and leave a small part of your trading plan dedicated to that. It can be way at the end, but take some time to think of how you will respond to severe volatility and black swan type events.
One note that I would certainly include is position size. When the markets start moving in larger ranges then what we have seen over the last few years, you will certainly want to reduce your size until you get a feel for the true volatility.
A few other things you may consider are quicker targets, and or less positions overall. If you are the type that likes to have a few positions in every sector you may want to scale that back and focus on adding into the positions you have working in your favor.
This may all seem like unnecessary planning but if you stick around long enough you will see volatility that will blow your mind. When that time comes you can dust off the "all hell breaking loose" part of your plan and go to work while everyone else is panicking.