Don't Judge Your Decisions by the Results

I attended a Financial Literacy presentation the other day at the university where I work.  It was designed for the incoming freshmen; I was there just in case there were any financial aid questions.  There was only one, but attending the presentation itself was well worth my time.

For me, the most important thing the presenter said was this:

"You can't judge a decision by the result.  Judgment on results alone misleads people into making very poor decisions.  For example, if you drink too much, drive home and get there safely, the results show success when I think we can all agree that the decision making failed."

That first sentence hit my brain like a 2x4!  For years, I've been doing exactly that, judging most of my decisions by the results.  (Perhaps most people do this, but I can only speak for myself.) When the results are either bad or just not what I want/expect, I tend to assume that I made a poor decision, that I should have thought more about it, that I should have taken more time, blahblahblah...  In other words, I judge myself and decide that I am wrong.

Yet when I look back at those decisions, they were probably the best I could have made at the time, given the circumstances and what information I had.  So I've decided not to judge myself anymore on those things, but instead just continue to do the best I can with what I have, and let things work themselves out as life unfolds.

Feel free to do the same.  :-)