If you want to beat the crowds / indices, I think there's two ways to go
about it — i) take a relatively passive approach, but become
knowledgeable & experienced enough to exit over-valued
markets & to over-commit (or avoid selling)
in distressed
markets, ii) as I've said,
invest the time / effort & tackle / climb that learning curve so you learn how to consistently assemble & manage a well diversified portfolio of mispriced
stocks.