When the stock market goes through a volatile patch, a season that investors who have stayed with the market have contended with regularly over the last few years, you can easily get caught up in the moment and make rash decisions about your portfolio.

No investor can say with exact certainty what the market will or won't do next. And the market's cyclicality is an inevitable reality to face if you're investing in stocks for years at a time. The good news is the stock market not only has a track record of rising with the passage of time but has also recovered from every single historical bear market.

If you're investing for decades rather than the short term, you don't have to try to predict the best and worst days. Instead, you can steadily build your portfolio through the ups and downs and, with time, compound your returns from quality businesses.

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Source Fool.com