Wait for the fat pitch. That’s what great baseball hitters do. The fat pitch is one that is so juicy and perfectly served to you that you can no doubt take a swing and hit a homerun.

Fat pitches don’t come often. Life is a cunning pitcher. So good hitters don’t swing at everything. They pass on dozens of balls, take walks, and just wait for that one perfect pitch.

The point is to be selective. Every pitch that comes your way looks tempting. But just as you swing at one, it curves and the best you can do is hit a lazy and easily caught fly ball. Wasted effort.

Entrepreneurs can be good hitters or bad hitters. The good ones pass on opportunities all the time. They only swing on HUGE opportunities.

The same can be said for investors. Warren Buffett is famous for his patience. He waits and waits until a great company gets really cheap. Everyone else has bailed on it because they’re focused on the short term results. Warren sees the fat pitch that is a great company on sale, and swings hard for a home run by investing large amounts of money. This approach means he doesn’t need to diversify. Diversification is like swinging at a bunch of pitches.

This baseball season, you’ll see my beloved Boston Red Sox play competitively and probably make the playoffs. Much of that will be because they have a lineup full of patient hitters that just wait and wait for the fat pitch.

Funny how selectivity applies to so much in life.