Hindsight is never really 20/20. It is simply an illusion to think that you could have made a better decision yesterday, last month or 20 years ago.
If you knew then what you know now, there is still no guarantee you would have done anything different or had better results.
You have probably heard me talk of ‘shoulding’ on yourself before. Shoulding is our incessant and particularly useless behavior of saying things like:
- I should be able to do X.
- He should work faster.
- They should be able to figure this stuff out.
The concept of hindsight is simply a hidden should:
- I should have done X instead of Y
Action – Well, let me ask you … Given the information you had at that time and knowing what you knew then, did you make the best possible decision you could have made THEN?
If not, then you’re talking about an integrity issue – which is doing something you knew was inappropriate.
But if your answer is “yes, I did the best I could in that moment”, then let it go and move on.
Let hindsight be for those who have eyes in the back of their head!