Choose the industry you love and then dig deep into it.
I truly understood this in the stock market.
I really like a saying by Warren Buffett: "Choose a good company and grow with it." Behind this is the wisdom of "getting rich slowly." This is exactly how I understand investment.
The stock market is one of the best ways to start a business that I have found.
It doesn't require a factory or a team, but it does need your equal focus, wisdom and patience.
It's like writing, allowing you to set aside the hustle and bustle, find a quiet corner, and compose your own rational and spiritual symphony in the fluctuating K lines.
- I like the adventure of the stock market, and I like to search for the margin of safety in the uncertain thorns;
- I also like the tranquility of writing, and I like to observe the world coldly with my pen, recording every step of my growth.
The stock market itself is a profound industry.
How many people have left in disappointment, and how many have achieved great success.
Before, when I heard people say "staying in the stock market for two or three decades," I found it hard to imagine.
But since I stepped into this field, four or five years have passed in a flash, witnessing ups and downs. Only then did I understand:
if you are determined to dig deep here, this is a lifelong practice. Always on the road, always learning, with no end in sight.
The core of investment lies in identifying and accompanying outstanding companies as they grow.
I firmly believe that during market downturns, rationality will eventually prevail over panic; yet when the market is booming, people often regret not entering the market earlier.
Therefore, cultivating a calm and composed mindset is the first and eternal lesson in investment.
When you choose companies with stable businesses, clear growth prospects, and wide moats, even if the stock prices fluctuate wildly, you can still maintain inner peace.
The true test lies in how to turn the "winter" into a "checkpoint".
In this regard, Charlie Munger's wisdom has given me tremendous strength.
He is not only an investment master but also a giant of thought. In his thought-rich book "Poor Charlie's Almanac", he records his diverse models on investment, life, and thinking.
The investment experiences recorded in the book are highly inspiring:
His investment company achieved an annualized return of nearly 30% for 11 consecutive years, shining brightly.
But immediately following this, there were two consecutive years of huge losses of over 31%.
Such a blow was enough to cause the majority of people to collapse and leave.
However, with profound insight and extraordinary composure, he chose to "persevere". In the third year of his persistence, the company soared by 73.2%, and finally, the annualized return over 14 years was locked at 19.8%.
When Charlie Munger liquidated his partnership company in 1975, the shareholders took over Berkshire Hathaway's stock at $38 per share at that time. Thirty years later, the value had increased to $850,000 per share.
Buffett once said, no one can accurately predict the end of "the gray period", nor can they guarantee that "when lightning strikes, they are just present".
The only thing we can do is to be well-prepared and then wait.
Make your desk work flawless, and then wait for the opportunity to come.
Munger's simple advice to the law firm he founded has remained my guiding principle to this day: "The best way to bring in new clients is to do a great job on your desk work." -
This is also one of the core philosophies that runs through "Poor Charlie's Almanac":
through lifelong learning, master the important models of various disciplines, and thereby develop the "desk work" that enables you to instantly understand the essence of things.
This gave me a profound enlightenment. In the past, we spent a great deal of effort chasing after relationships and shortcuts. But we forgot that every product you deliver and every project you complete is the cornerstone of your reputation, and it is the genuine promotion.
True skills often lie in the most fundamental aspects.
This realization becomes even clearer when I look back at those around me.
Those "comrades-in-arms" who fought side by side in the business world over the past few years, some have made a reluctant career change due to circumstances, but others, relying solely on a "never-give-up" stubbornness and determination to do their desk work perfectly, have deeply rooted themselves in an industry and a company.
Decades have passed, and occasionally, when I see their still steadfast and focused figures in short videos, I can't help but marvel.
They may not have the sudden wealth-making legend on the cutting edge, but they haven't been swept away by the tide of the times either.
This "stability and weight brought by long-term dedication" and this perseverance, aren't they a more advanced form of "wealth" as well?
Investment requires much more in-depth "desk work"
Those Investment requires much more profound "desk work" - in-depth research on the company, the industry, and the business model, which is far more important than chasing short-term market buzz.
I appreciate this quiet strength.
I am increasingly convinced that all excellence stems from long-term refinement and patient waiting.
"Gradually becoming wealthy" holds significant weight in today's bustling world.
It forces us to calm down, slow down, and continuously accumulate strength, waiting for the moment when it suits us to burst forth.
If you also wish to systematically build this long-termist mindset framework, I sincerely recommend that you read "Poor Charlie's Almanac".
It is not a stock trading manual, but rather a valuable map on how to think and live more rationally and wisely.
Therefore, whether it is stock market investment or life entrepreneurship, may we all learn: Each low point should be regarded as an inevitable "checkpoint" in life.
Paying the tuition fee of time and crossing it will lead to a broader and smoother road.
In a world where everyone is chasing instant success, knowing how to be "slow" and knowing how to safeguard "slowness" with solid wisdom have become the most top-level competitiveness.
At the same time, I also suggest that you have a good companion for your reading journey.