To win you must first identify what it means to win, then figure out what the game is. Learn its rules, find your competition. Once you know everything there is to know about the game, practice because the only way to win is either be better than everyone else or cheat. then there's the idea of focusing on 1) valuation - how much is this worth and how much is it worth relative to other things. 2) Trend - what is the macro doing in sum? expanding? contracting? 3) Inflation (this pertains more to finance than the general game) What's the overall trend? 3) Earnings - how are others doing in aggregate? Is the macro working or dying? 5) Credit - what credit is available and why is it (or why isn't it?) there has to be a reason and it likely is relevant.