along the road to success you’ll see tons of good ideas that never panned out. great ideas—revolutionary ideas—which never see the light of day. crumbled pieces of paper, the back of en envelope, torn-up napkins all filled with tomorrow’s next big thing that never was.

and yet how often does it happen, we’re sitting on our couch, listening to the radio, or reading a book and think, “how in the world did i not think of that?” we see hundreds of examples of seemingly worthless products, overly produced songs, and such basic ideas that we can’t believe it ever was successful.

how? because the simple truth is this: good does not equal success. it’s impossible to predict which ideas will win and which ideas won’t because there are so many factors at play. being good helps, but it’s not a prerequisite.

if you keep waiting around for the right idea to come, or a good time to start that business, or the market to swing back to the center you may be waiting a long time. better to take a chance and boldly go. as they say, you gotta be in it to win it.