Your Past Decisions Made Sense (Even the Bad Ones)

Looking back at past decisions with current knowledge is a trap. "How could I have been so stupid?" you wonder. "The warning signs were so obvious."

But they weren't obvious. Not then. Not with what you knew and who you were at the time.

The Hindsight Illusion

Hindsight bias is powerful. Once we know how something turned out, we can't remember not knowing. The future seems like it was predictable all along.

But it wasn't. You made decisions with incomplete information, limited experience, and genuine uncertainty about outcomes. That you couldn't predict the future isn't a failure—it's the human condition.

What You Actually Knew

When you took that job that didn't work out, you didn't know it wouldn't work out. You had hopes, concerns, incomplete data. You made a reasonable choice given what you knew.

When you dated that person who turned out to be wrong for you, you saw potential. The red flags that seem obvious now weren't visible—or you lacked the experience to interpret them.

When you made that financial decision, the market, the economy, and the future were genuinely unknown. Experts were wrong too.

The Version of You That Decided

You're not the same person you were when you made past decisions. You have experiences now that you didn't have then. You've learned things—often from those very decisions.

Judging your past self by your current standards is unfair. Past-you was doing their best with what they had. That's all anyone can do.

Learning Without Self-Flagellation

This doesn't mean you can't learn from mistakes. You absolutely should. But there's a difference between:

"That decision didn't work out. What can I learn?" (productive)

"I was such an idiot for making that choice." (destructive)

The first leads to growth. The second just leads to shame, which actually makes future decisions worse.

The Decisions That Worked

Hindsight bias works in reverse too. Decisions that worked out don't seem like luck—they seem like obvious wisdom. But many "good" decisions could have gone differently.

You're not as smart as your successes suggest. You're not as dumb as your failures suggest. You're a person navigating uncertainty, sometimes getting it right, sometimes not.

Moving Forward

When you notice yourself beating yourself up over past decisions:

1. Reconstruct what you actually knew at the time 2. Remember who you were—your experience level, your circumstances 3. Acknowledge that uncertainty was real 4. Extract any genuine lessons 5. Let go of the self-judgment

Your past decisions made sense to the person you were, with the information you had. Honor that person. They got you here.