Most of us suffer from some sort of impulse buying. It might be books, clothes or something else, but it would be a special type of person who never impluses buys or has later regrets about the purchase. 

One aspect that impacts investing is the sudden unknown events that shocks us into taking some type opf action usually a race to buy or sell an investment.

Investing via emotions is a 100% way to end up on the losing side. So while there is value in knowing what your own triggers are, the best plan is to have a strategy.

We often talk about a systematic process and impulse actions don't enhance that system at all.

A better way is to simply commit to waiting 2 or 3 days before confirming your actions.

I am a sucker for books. On most occasions, if I read a review or see a new book about investing or science or economics, I usually buy it. It doesn't help that Amazon has One-click buying either.

Two years ago, I admitted to myself that I had a bad case of the Japanese affliction called Tsundoku - a habit of buying books and letting them pile up unread. 

So I put in place a strategy which said I won't buy a book immediately. I implemented my very own 5 days cooling off period. This included not putting it in the Amazon basket for later purchase.

The previous problem consisted on me reading the latest book and leaving the previous orders unread. The "older" orders ended up not being read as I was always more excited about the latest book rather than the previous orders that I hadn't got to. Suddenly the book purchases dropped and I found myself reading the books I already had. 

When it comes to investing, the best strategy to minimise regret, is to have a cooling off period. If you find a stock or ETF that you like and feel the urge to buy or sell immediately, you should wait 5 days and come back to it to see if you still think the same way. 

This way you can let your initial emotions subside and make the decision with a more rational frame of mind. 

It will also help you with sticking to your system.