Is it best to stay busy or wait for a good set?

In Southern California beaches I personally lean to staying busy in a heat and being urgent , getting to peaks for positioning. If your staying busy but not building on small scores like 1's or 2's than you could miss a set or a good mid range wave or reach your wave count. After one or two low scores (if that's how you started) I always suggest to maybe head a little further out and find a bigger peak that has a corner.

Sometimes all you need is one turn to make the difference. Always time the sets and see how consistent the waves are. If it is very consistent or big than getting the couple low scores becomes less important, maybe just one? Will that sweep you on the inside and waste time if you do? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves