I find it interesting, and frustrating, how much people talk about decisions that have already been made.  Anyone who knows me well, knows that I value evaluation and self-critique.  There is a time and place.  But as I listen to the radio, watch tv, and pay attention to conversations, it seems that people talk a lot how they would have done something different with the challenges that face so many.  Being a Monday morning quarterback is fun.  And if we are honest, it feels good to poke and prod and ponder how and why others got something wrong that we are so sure we would have gotten right.  I would have not married him.  I would have gone a different way.  I would have fought to stop that.  I would not have purchased that house.  I would….I would…They should…he missed…and so on.  But what if we shifted this.  It seems many of those conversations although full of words are actually quite empty of fruit.   I think we should spend more time talking about solutions to current problems and future development, rather than talking about the solutions that should have been used for past problems and past development.  What if we spent more time focusing on moving forward and not on critiquing the past.

Let’s stop with:

• I told you so’s.
• This is not what I would have done.
• Had I been there…
• We would be here if…
• It should have been done differently.

You know why we should get rid of these.  They do not change reality.  It would really be wise to quit wasting energy on what we can not control.  The past is one of those things.  And furthermore, we lack humility when we assume we would get a situation that we are not part of completely correct had we been part of it.