Intelligent people are often savagely self-critical when things don’t go as planned. 

That big brain of yours means you’re capable of analyzing how events unfolded and pinpointing your mistakes along the way. But however clever you are, unless you’re consciously aware of it, you’re most likely succumbing to the hindsight bias.

Once an outcome is known our brains airbrush out all the uncertainty we confronted, all the unknowns we faced, all the ways things could have gone, and paths that could have been taken. As soon as we have complete information we forget that we didn’t at the time. 

If you find yourself thinking: Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Why didn’t I see the red flags? How could I have been so stupid? Go easy. More often than not, these thoughts are just the hindsight bias talking, and being aware of its pernicious effects will reduce your tendency to indulge in shoulda-woulda-coulda self-flagellation. 

Remember: hindsight is not foresight. You didn’t know then what you did now. Beating yourself up about unintended outcomes doesn’t change anything. Onwards!

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