Its a tough ask to predict when markets are going to make a new high. But since the rise from 7500 to 18600 has been steep, markets were anyways expected to take some kind of breather. And that actually is healthy for the market. In the process a lot of excesses that were earlier built up are now getting cleaned up. A lot of the high flying stocks with crazy valuations are correcting, some even inspite of good results. And those companies where earnings are not meeting expectations are getting hit hard, and deservedly so.
I usually do not look at market levels in my investment process. My main focus has always been on stock selection and allocation. The current market is somewhat of a blessing for stockpickers. Companies with good to very good results are also not showing breakneck rallies which used to be the case in the past. So there is enough time to study companies, listen to concall (wherever conducted), do some other forms of research and then take a call. Only case I would be worried would be if I see some sort of falls which portend larger corrections. As of now things seem to be pointing to healthy correction, but I would be on the lookout for signs of trouble as and when they emerge.
The exercise investors need to do is to find out companies which have good earnings visibility over next few quarters (or years in rare instances) and try to figure out good entry points if there is good conviction.
The only point of differentiation about investing in say FY 22, as compared to earlier few quarters is that investors will need to temper their expectations and try to play on the safe side and focus on capital protection while chasing returns. In a way its the time of combine a little bit of solid defence while playing shots. And be careful of shot selection. Try to avoid playing too many lofted shots. Risk aversion as far as possible.