Patience is one of the most valuable attibutes in investing. I liken it to a great baseball hitter such as Wade Boggs nowadays or Ted Williams [R.I.P.] in my youth. The key to their success is to wait for the fat pitch to hit and not to swing from the heels at just anything. The idea is to work the pitcher into a hole and to get the count to 2-and-0 or to 3-and-1. That forces the pitcher to throw strikes…often fastballs. In other words, if the hitter is patient, he tries to work the odds into his favor. Then, and only then, does he take a real rip at the ball.
It’s about the same in the stock market. I try to “work the count” in my favor by waiting for the indicators to get very one-sided before “swinging from the heels” with an aggressive strategy. If I don’t find the indicators producing very good odds in one direction ot the other I’m content to play defensively and just bide my time.
– Martin Zweig, Winning on Wall Street