{"id":2141,"date":"2021-10-20T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T15:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/?p=2141"},"modified":"2025-12-05T10:56:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T02:56:48","slug":"thinking-outsourced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking cannot be outsourced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Investment is a marathon of life, and we must persist to the end. In section 1-1, of my book &#8220;The Rules of Super Growth Stocks Investing&#8221;, I pointed out 8 key points of a simple roadmap for stock investment for investors; the sixth item is &#8220;Independent thinking&#8221; &#8212; Develop the habit of reading, analyze and judge based on facts, ignore all kinds of forecasts or investment reports, turn off your TV and finance station, and then spend a fixed amount of time every day doing homework by yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/#How_important_is_independent_thinking\" >How important is independent thinking<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/#Investors_need_to_think_independently\" >Investors need to think independently<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/#Excessive_return_can_only_be_achieved_through_deep_thinking\" >Excessive return can only be achieved through deep thinking<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/#Thinking_cannot_be_outsourced\" >Thinking cannot be outsourced<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/#Make_your_own_destiny\" >Make your own destiny<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/#Mungers_view\" >Munger&#8217;s view<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/#Related_articles\" >Related articles<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_important_is_independent_thinking\"><\/span><strong>How important is independent thinking<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ayn Rand&#8217;s famous saying &#8220;Wealth is the product&nbsp;of man&#8217;s&nbsp;capacity to think.&#8221; In the postscript chapter of my book &#8220;The Rules of Super Growth Stocks Investing&#8221;, I mentioned that &#8220;You will never earn any money beyond your cognition.&#8221;  this is why the bankruptcy rate of American lottery winners in the past 20 years is as high as 75%, or 60% of NBA stars will go bankrupt within 5 years of retirement.\u201d The reason is simple, because you have no ability to possess the wealth beyond your ability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Investors_need_to_think_independently\"><\/span><strong>Investors need to think independently<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>General George Patton famously said, &#8220;If&nbsp;everyone&nbsp;is&nbsp;thinking alike, then somebody isn&#8217;t&nbsp;thinking.&#8221; Benjamin&nbsp;Graham said, &#8220;There&nbsp;are&nbsp;two requirements&nbsp;for&nbsp;success&nbsp;in&nbsp;Wall Street.&nbsp;One,&nbsp;you have&nbsp;to&nbsp;think correctly; and secondly,&nbsp;you have&nbsp;to&nbsp;think independently. &#8220;Investment wants the ultimate success, and the principle of running any business is the same. Buffett once expressed similar statements like: &#8220;We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and&nbsp;we look for integrity.&#8221; All the great investors in history, the three things they continue to do every day are repeated reading, researching, and thinking; no exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Excessive_return_can_only_be_achieved_through_deep_thinking\"><\/span><strong>Excessive return can only be achieved through deep thinking<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most important statement, Howard Marks said in his most famous book &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful-Publishing-ebook\/dp\/B004U5Q1O0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Most Important Thing<\/a>&#8221; is that the biggest difference between successful investors and ordinary people is that they need to have &#8220;Second-level thinking&#8221;, which is the so-called &#8220;Insight&#8221; in Chinese. If there is no insight that differs from others, and it is impossible to obtain excess returns\u2014because the market already reflects the opinions known to all investors involved in the market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If investors can get ahead of others and find out the intrinsic value that most people have not yet discovered; the market will eventually reflect the true intrinsic value of stocks, but the premise is that you have to have different thinking and insights from others, rather than dreaming or dreaming, or your wishful thinking,  This is why  George Goldman (pseudonym Adam Smith) said, &#8220;The&nbsp;stock doesn\u2019t know you own&nbsp;it,&#8221;  and certainly stock market doesn\u2019t care about your personal opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Thinking_cannot_be_outsourced\"><\/span><strong>Thinking cannot be outsourced<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In book of &#8220;The Ground Rules&#8221;, &#8220;Here again we are reminded that&nbsp;<em>you really can&#8217;t outsource your thinking\u2014you have to do it yourself<\/em>.&#8221; This sentence is really classic. Why do I always emphasize that investors have to spend a fixed amount of time every day to do their homework, instead of reading other people&#8217;s investment reports? The main reason is: because it is the product of other people&#8217;s thinking. No matter how good and reasonable the report of the person you read is, it is not your own thinking and will not help you in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Make_your_own_destiny\"><\/span>Make your own destiny<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>David Rubenstein, co-founder and executive chairman, The Carlyle Group (ticker: CG) said &#8220;They (great investors) like to make the final decision. They don\u2019t want to delegate the decision and when they make a bad decision, they own up to it and get onto the next thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Mungers_view\"><\/span>Munger&#8217;s view<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Charlie Munger once said, &#8220;If, in your thinking, you rely entirely on others, often through purchase of professional advice, whenever outside a small territory of your own, you will suffer much calamity.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"159\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/Freepik-1600x1200-4.jpg\" alt=\"Thinking \" class=\"wp-image-13983\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">credit: Freepik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Regarding the importance of thinking, I suggest you refer to my two other blog posts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/25\/necessary-conditions-for-successful-investment-trilogy-do-investing-homework-by-yourself\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Do investing homework by yourself: Necessary conditions for successful investment trilogy<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/11\/20\/the-knowledge-required-for-investment-is-breadth-not-depth-as-most-people-think\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Investing requires breadth of knowledge, not depth as most people think<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/11\/02\/what-should-a-investment-philosophy-include\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">What does the investment mentality include? <\/a>\u300b<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_articles\"><\/span>Related articles<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/12\/04\/fall-to-lower-class\/\">You might unknowingly fall to lower class<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Thinking cannot be outsourced<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/06\/seeking-facts\/\">Seeking facts is the first step in investment<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/02\/28\/think-keep-sane-in-crowd\/\">In the crowd, it&#8217;s impossible to think independently or keep sane<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/01\/15\/crowd-get-lost\/\">The crowd tend to lose their judgment and get lost<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/09\/26\/out-of-the-ordinary\/\">How difficult to be out of the ordinary<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/09\/01\/investment-is-not-voting\/\">Investing is not voting<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/02\/28\/think-keep-sane-in-crowd\/\">In the crowd, it&#8217;s impossible to think independently or keep sane<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/07\/27\/survivorship-bias\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">People believe successful investors are survivorship bias cannot succeed<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/11\/02\/investment-philosophy\/\">What should a great investment philosophy include?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/02\/24\/andy-lin-investment-style\/\">The key points of Andy Lin investment style<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/09\/26\/long-term-investment-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Andy Lin&#8217;s long-term investment experience sharing<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Disclaimer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The content of this site is the author\u2019s personal opinions and is for reference only. I am not responsible for the correctness, opinions, and immediacy of the content and information of the article. Readers must make their own judgments.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>I shall not be liable for any damages or other legal liabilities for the direct or indirect losses caused by the readers&#8217; direct or indirect reliance on and reference to the information on this site, or all the responsibilities arising therefrom, as a result of any investment behavior.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thinking cannot be outsourced. Investment is a marathon of life, and we must persist to the end. In section 1-1, of my book &#8220;The Rules of Super Growth Stocks Investing&#8221;, I pointed out 8 key points of a simple roadmap for stock investment for investors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[539,15,383,68,71,540,11],"tags":[851],"class_list":["post-2141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thinking","category-charlie-munger","category-howard-marks","category-insight-second-level-thinking","category-out-of-the-ordinary","category-reading","category-buffett","tag-cg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2141"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40512,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141\/revisions\/40512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}