There’s nothing like pummeling someone using hindsight as your weapon. This is readily seen through some of the coverage on Coronavirus. These armchair quarterbacks criticizing others from a distance. Politically exaggerated stories, gotcha questions, misinformation, petty arguing, and numerous would-of, should-of, and could-of statements.
Being an armchair quarterback is easy sitting on your couch after the play has been made.
It’s lame to say in April what “should have” happened back in February or March. Anyone can simply blame past political decisions on those not in power today. And it’s moronic for those out of power to attack those in power using knowledge and information that’s become available after the fact.
Hindsight is wonderful. It’s always easy to second guess after the fact.
Helen Reddy
One would think the physical suffering, social distancing and financial struggles caused by a global pandemic would stop the bias and bickering. But then again, it is an election year.
1. Beware condemning someone’s leadership too soon.
We all live under someone’s leadership. No one is an Island. There will always be some boss, supervisor, politician, bureaucrat, elder, pastor, parent, friend or loved one that we must listen to or follow. Like the Rolling Stones song say’s “You can’t always get what you want…”
Yes, sometimes our leaders get it wrong. They make bone headed decisions. And yes, we who have mastered the art of decision making, would have done things differently.
However, every leader and historical action is made by people making decisions based on their experience and information at hand. Like David Grann said: There’s a tendency when we write history to do it with the power of hindsight and then assume almost god-like knowledge that nobody living through history has.”
Here’s a few tips:
Give them the benefit of the doubt. Believe them even if you’re not convinced. Don’t assume the worst. Maybe they were forced or pressured into that decision or they are trying to protect others from unseen consequences. You just never know.
Consider the situation in which they made the decisions: Don’t take things at face value. There’s usually more to it than we know. Maybe they were pressured by others or the decision was time or financially sensitive.
Trust but verify: Following someone, we don’t trust is difficult indeed. But trust is in fact earned. If you doubt, find out. If you suspect something fishy, investigate. But ask the right questions, trust the right people and be willing to take the consequences whatever you uncover. It’s easy to condemn the actions of others, with no skin in the game.
2. Don’t torture yourself about past decisions.
Yes, we can learn from our mistakes. But they can also haunt us and stop us from acting in the future. Diane F. Halpern once said – Hindsight is of little value in the decision-making process. It distorts our memory for events that occurred at the time of the decision. So, that the actual consequence seems to have been a “foregone conclusion.” Thus, it may be difficult to learn from our mistakes.
Kicking yourself when your down is a bad habit.
Chris Rither
Regret is a harsh taskmaster. Making decisions is hard enough without second-guessing ourselves. And living in the past won’t help either.
Here are a few tips to not let regret influence our decisions.
Own it. Embrace your past, both the good and bad. Whatever you did, you did. Whatever happened, happened. History doesn’t own you. Your past doesn’t control you.
Learn from your past. Make two lists. One with your best decisions. One with your worst. Then spend time analyzing what/why things went wrong or right. Find the common denominators or similar threads that appear in your decision-making process. List and prioritize your findings and use this next time you make a big decision.
Remember the Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Hindsight must surely be the most useless function of the human brain, torturing yourself over the unalterable past.
Peter F. Hamilton
3. Look at your situation objectively and get some perspective.
Relying on hindsight is not possible in the heat of battle. The only thing we can do is assess our surroundings, gather information, come up with a plan and act.
Or we can sit back and do nothing waiting for things to change or someone else to act.
Either way, decisions will be made. Here’s some great advice from an article in Psychology Today by Dr. Shahram Heshmat called – The Wisdom Behind the Saying “Get Some Perspective?”
Determine your time horizon: “From a distant future, individuals commit themselves to options with outcomes that are highly desirable but less feasible. However, the near future individuals prefer options with outcomes that are less desirable but highly feasible. Therefore, desirability concerns receive greater weight over feasibility concerns as psychological distance increases.”
Determine the activity level: “Thinking about an activity in high-level (lofty thoughts or long-term goals) is related to “why,” and low-level (a narrow, concrete, here-and-now focus) is related “how” questions. For example, a task like “maintaining good physical health” might be associated with high-level attributes like the joy of healthy lifestyle. When we decide on a diet, we do so because of its attractive outcomes to us. However, there are also low-level attributes associated with this task such as going to gym, avoiding our favorite snack, and so on. “Why” questions encourage long-term thinking, or desirability of pursuing an action. In contrast, “How” questions bring the mind down to the present and consider the goal’s attainability or feasibility.
Dealing with emotions: “Adopting a self-distanced perspective can help us face negative emotions without becoming overwhelmed by them. Charlie Chaplin once said, “Life is a tragedy when seen in a close up, but a comedy when seen in a long-shot.” When we face a problem in our life, they appear enormous partly because of the proximity we see them. But that narrow attitude shifts as we develop a broader perspective of the challenge and at that level, we tend to see more options. It is hard to see clearly when you are in the thick of the clouds.”
Sometimes ya gotta be creative: “The self-distancing perspective has also relevance to enhancing creativity. After several years of experience, people start to repeat themselves so that it becomes more the same-old approach. They become insiders. One of the most effective ways of cultivating an outsider perspective is to feel distant from the problems. For example, traveling or getting away from the places we spend most of our time. The distance allows one to view problems in a more imaginative way. All of a sudden, our mind is aware of those considerations that were previously ignored, and those facts that should be ignored.”
Finding the right perspective: “In sum, when our focus is too narrow, it can lead us to miss the big picture. A wider scope would help us capture and integrate important details. The passage of time normally broadens our perspective, and we feel relief because of seeing a bigger picture. Finally, remember why you are doing an activity. The “Why” questions can benefit people to keep going on maintaining a new habit (e.g., daily exercise or diet). As Nietzsche remarked, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”