Many investors face this dilemma: in life, you might be a patient person, but when it comes to investing, you find yourself unable to sit still. This is not a matter of willpower, but human nature.

Let's start from the source. Why do most people lack patience in investing? There are two levels of reasons. One is subjective — it is written in our genes. Our ancestors only cared about what they could eat tomorrow, rarely making long-term plans for returns years down the line. This evolutionarily developed short-term thinking makes us inherently poor at waiting. Coupled with the limited span of life, we always want to accomplish the most in the shortest time, and pursuing efficiency becomes instinctive.

The other is objective — the nature of the market itself. Excellent companies are scarce, and finding one is already a low-probability event. Even more painfully, when truly good companies experience a crash and present a margin of safety, such opportunities are extremely rare. Why? Because the company itself is of high quality, and when its stock price drops, there are always people rushing in to buy the dip, making it hard to wait for a significant decline.

Therefore, the demand for patience in value investing is not empty talk — it is determined by market reality. If you cannot recognize your own shortcomings at the genetic level, or understand the market mechanism, relying solely on willpower to overcome it will most likely lead to failure. The real way to cope is to first admit this deficiency, then use methods and cognition to counter human nature.