Getting rich slowly

As the story goes, Jeff Bezos once said to Warren Buffett, “Your investment thesis is so simple, and yet so brilliant. Why doesn’t everyone just copy you?”

To which Buffett replied, “Because nobody wants to get rich slow.”

Whether or not this interaction really happened (it’s nearly impossible to verify quotes like these) it’s a useful reminder.

Our natural leaning is toward quick solutions. The things that will feed us today. The schemes that will produce immediate returns. The short game.

But we know — and we can verify this by looking at our own history — the long games are are the games worth playing. Drip by drip. Slow and steady. Little and often.

This is the way a life is formed. This is the way we build things of value. Not overnight, but day by day, moment by moment.