29 Dec 2018 How Often Do You Think “What If?”

How Often Do You Think “What If?”

You should always look to the past for lessons learned. As the saying goes those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. However, there is a big difference from studying lessons learned and spending time asking yourself “What If?”

Everybody can look back on their lives and point to specific decisions they made. Many of these decisions had a big impact. Some may have come out as you wanted, and others may have brought about results that had their own challenges. For those challenging ones it is easy to get into the trap of trying to predict what would’ve happened if you made a different choice?  It is easy to assume that the alternate choice would not have had as many challenges. That is wishful thinking at best. You make a decision at that time with the best information that you have. If your decision is based on a lot of factual data, then there is a good chance you can predict how things may come out in the near-term. Now near term may mean days or months or at most a year. It is very difficult to predict many things after a year and the difficulty grows exponentially each succeeding year.

If your decision is based on more emotion then facts, then your desired outcome is even less predictable. You may get some satisfaction in going back and asking yourself what if I made a different decision, however it really is a waste of time and more importantly a waste of emotional energy. Just accept that you made the best decision at the time. If better data comes up, you can always make a course correction. Learn from the past just don’t dwell on the past.