If you’ve ever watched surfers you’ll know that they spend far more time reading the waves, than riding them. And despite all of the waiting, watching and experience, they still sometimes choose the wrong wave to ride. In the end they take their best guess, commit and go.

And so it goes for ideas too.

Did the Pintrest founder Ben Silbermann know back in 2009, that he was building what would become the fastest growing social network? And did Kevin Systrom have any idea that his Instagram app would be acquired by Facebook for a billion, just months after Kodak died?

Nobody knows for sure. There is no certainty. No such thing as a ‘sure thing’.

So once you’ve done the preparation, there is no reason not to take your best guess and go.

The people who succeed, are the ones that put the need for certainty aside, to focus on riding the best wave they can. They don’t wait for the tide to be perfect tomorrow.

Image by Mike Baird.