I'm not stupid, but I'm not a quick thinker either, and in situations where fast reactions are needed, I often find myself at a disadvantage. Whenever I'm in a new environment, it takes me longer to adapt compared to my peers, but once I've found my footing, I proceed at my own pace, either climbing paths others find difficult or forging surprising new trails.

I am someone who has to learn at a slower pace, but I excel at organizing cross-disciplinary information and forming my own system. In fast-paced environments, where information is chaotic and quick decisions are needed every day, my performance is at best average. However, in settings where the decision cycle is longer and there is a need to find better methods, I can truly shine.

I'm often surprised at how long it takes me to change my way of thinking. What allows me to accept and appreciate this trait is the realization that some 'geniuses' are the same way.

Buffett and Munger have had several classic successful investments, such as See's Candies, Coke, and Apple. The common thread among these three is their strong branding and pricing power. If they hadn’t discovered See's Candies' pricing power, they wouldn’t have placed a quarter of their portfolio on Coca-Cola at that time. If Buffett hadn’t deeply understood the power of Coke’s brand, he wouldn’t have ventured into tech stocks, which he previously avoided, and heavily invested in Apple. What seems like an obvious and simple decision actually took these two geniuses a very long time to learn and act on.

1. They acquired See’s Candies with $25M in 1972.
2. 16 years later, they first bought Coke shares in 1988.
3. 28 years later, they first bought Apple shares in 2016.

Both Buffett and Munger are continuous learning machines. No one doubts their intelligence or extensive knowledge, but the process of internalizing knowledge into wisdom and then turning it into action takes a long time. This is why cultivating wisdom and being a philosopher is a lifelong task that can never be fully completed.

If even my heroes need so much time to evolve, why should I be in a rush? As Munger said, just make sure you're improving a little bit each day (without backsliding), and keep yourself healthy and long-lived (so the runway is long enough). Then be the tortoise in the race against the hare.