When Danielle Town found herself burnt out and even starting to get sick from her work as a corporate attorney, she knew she didn't want to keep working at the same breakneck pace for much longer. So she started brainstorming ways to retire faster. "I started to think, 'What else can I do to support myself without being dependent on my salary?'" Town tells CNBC Make It. Her father was an investor and author of two books on the topic, so Town grew up hearing about Warren Buffett's two famous rules: 1. Don't lose money. 2. Don't forget Rule No. 1. But Town was reluctant to turn to the stock market as a means to fast-track her retirement. "I had heard 'Rule No.1' my whole life. And I ignored it my whole life," says Town, now 36. "I thought, 'What does that even mean?'"

Danielle Town

Town tried to focus on hoarding her cash. But she quickly realized that, thanks to inflation, money stockpiled in a savings account would lose value over time. She considered a few other options, but she knew the choice was clear: She needed to start investing. She reluctantly called her dad and, with his help, Town began to take a deeper dive into Buffett's Rule No. 1, which can be applied using a strategy called 'value investing.' "My dad's point is deeper than it sounds: buy a wonderful company when it is a bargain and only when you are certain that it will be worth more 10 years from now than it is today," Town writes in her book. She continues: "Be so confident that you now own a great company that — even if the stock prices goes down — you don't worry and you stay with it until it goes back up, and, ideally, you never sell." In short, look for companies that will become more valuable over time and commit to sticking it out with them.

It's a strategy Buffett has benefited from time after time. He purchased See's Candies with longtime business partner Charlie Munger in 1972 and spent more than $1 billion on Coca-Cola stock in 1988 — both of which turned out to be good bets and both of which he still owns today. When deciding whether or not to invest in a company himself, Buffett and his partners follow a few simple guidelines, one of which involves trying to determine the company's longevity. "We sort of know it when we see it," Buffett said during the the Berkshire Hathaway 2017 Annual Shareholders Meeting. "It would tend to be a business that for one reason or another we can look out five or 10 or 20 years, and decide that the competitive advantage that it had at the present would last over that period."

Be so confident that you now own a great company that, even if the stock prices goes down, you don't worry and you stay with it until it goes back up, and, ideally, you never sell. Danielle Town Author of "Invested"