My six-year-old was rushing through dinner the other night.

I told her to slow down, and she looked up and asked why. So, I broke it down for her. When you rush through your food you don’t chew it properly and that can cause problems. It takes about 15 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain it’s full, so if you eat too fast you’ll keep going thinking you’re still hungry. Next thing you know your stomach is sticking out and you’re uncomfortable wondering what happened.

She finished her plate, looked up and said she’d slow down next time.

Will that lesson stick after one conversation? That’s a different story. But she got it in the moment and that’s where it starts.

I thought about that later and realized the same lesson applies directly to investing.

When you rush a financial decision, you skip steps that matter. You see a stock moving and you jump in without doing the research. You panic when the market drops and sell before giving yourself time to think clearly. You act on a feeling before you’ve actually done the work.

Just like eating too fast, the consequences aren’t always obvious in the moment. They show up later. A portfolio full of impulsive decisions that don’t sit well together. A stock you sold at the bottom that came back. A company you bought on hype that had nothing behind it.

Just like the stomach takes 15 minutes to catch up to the brain at the dinner table, the market takes time to reflect what a business is actually worth. In both cases rushing the process means making decisions based on incomplete information.

My daughter understood the lesson. Applying it consistently is the harder part. That’s true for a six year old at dinner and for grown adults managing their money.

Slowing down isn’t hesitation. It’s how you make better decisions.