Most investors get it backwards. They spend hours watching stock tickers and reading headlines when they should be doing this instead.
I learned this the hard way. My first big investment was a “sure thing” tech stock in 2018. Six months later, I’d lost 60%. The problem wasn’t bad luck. I simply didn’t know how to evaluate a business.
That changed when I met a retired fund manager at my local library. His advice shocked me:
“Stop picking stocks. Start studying them. Treat it like learning the piano, note that nobody masters Chopin in a week.”
He showed me his notebook from 1975. Page after page of handwritten company analyses. No fancy software, just pencil, paper, and relentless repetition.
Here’s the routine that transformed my results:
1. The 10-Minute Daily Drill
Open one annual report (start with companies you use daily)
Answer three questions:
What does this company actually sell?
Who pays them money?
Could a competitor take their customers?
2. The Saturday Morning Test
Pick one stock you own. Pretend you have to explain it to a 12-year-old in three sentences. If you can’t, you don’t understand it well enough.
3. The Quarterly Autopsy
When a trade goes wrong, write down:
What you thought would happen
What actually happened
The single biggest reason you were wrong
This isn’t glamorous work. But after six months, something clicks. You start seeing patterns others miss. Earnings reports become stories rather than spreadsheets.
Last March, when regional bank stocks crashed, that training paid off. While friends panicked, I recognized which banks had real problems versus those getting dragged down. That calm didn’t come from natural talent – it came from 1,214 hours of practice.
The market doesn’t care about your opinions. It rewards those who put in the reps.
Your move. Grab a notebook. Pick one company. And start today’s practice session.
Because in five years, you’ll wish you’d started now.
P.S. That tech stock I lost money on? I bought it back last year after proper research. It’s up. Same stock & applied different skills.
