Certainty comes later

When you read about successful endeavours and entrepreneurs, there’s a lot of certainty in the stories.

Much more than in reality.

“They knew what to do and took decisive action”. No they didn’t. They knew what had worked for others, and what the unknowns are. The future remains an unknown for us all. The best we can do is take decisive action wit the information we have, to accelerate the learning process.

“They knew the venture would work.” No they didn’t. They hoped it would, told their peers it would, but likely spent many difficult nights wrestling with the possibility that it might not work out. That’s fine. That’s human. The best we can do is give our work the opportunity to succeed with appropriate levels of wisdom and resolve.

“They were destined to succeed.” No they weren’t. They experienced good leadership either through parents, book authors, coaches or culture, at some point in their lives, which helped create the person we see today. Some of us are lucky enough to be exposed to those things from an early age. For others, it comes later.

Hindsight and fables contain a lot more certainty than reality.

Don’t aim to be stay certain. Aim to keep growing. Leave the certainty to hindsight.