For ordinary people in the stock market, the two easiest ways to make money are:

The first method: Stay in cash for the long term and buy during a market crash.

Do nothing at ordinary times, just hold cash in your hands. Wait for that one or two opportunities a year—when the market panics and everyone is selling at a loss, you go in and pick up bargains. This round, you're making money from emotions.

The second method: Buy high-quality stocks at low prices and hold them for the long term.

Find good companies with a dividend yield above 4% and buy them when they're cheap. Then hold them, and sell when they reach your target price. It might take longer, three to five years or even a decade, but the advantage is stability. You can trade some larger swings in the middle, but keep your core position unchanged.

These two methods are actually talking about the same thing: being patient enough to wait and disciplined enough to hold.

The first type of person waits for a big drop, the second type waits for time. The common point is that neither involves constant trading, chasing rallies, nor envying how much others make.