“Let the hindsight of your future self be the foresight of today’s self.” - Shane Parrish TKP episode 37

I was listening Shane Parrish interview Annie Duke on the The Knowledge Project the other day. During the interview, Shane summarized a point Annie made, and the summary was too good not to write down and share with you.

In December, of I don’t know what year, I blogged about “Future You” which was inspired by Annie Duke’s book, Thinking in Bets, and I wish I heard this podcast at the time I was reading the book. What I love about Shane’s summary is the practicality. Imagine this.

• You are confronted with a decision and imagining how it might end.

• You project yourself into the future, imagining you made the decision and you’re experiencing that “hindsight is 20/20 phenomenon.”

• You take advantage of that phenomenon and you identify, “what is the that perfect 20/20 hindsight? Instead of doing what I did, what do I wish that I did?”

• Take your answers to the “hindsight 20/20” question and bring them to present you.

• Make that your go-forward plan!

• Celebrate because you’re winning at making decisions.

I wish heuristics was a class I took at all levels of my education. Imagine how many decisions could have been improved through a decades-long study in decision making and bias?

• What friends to make?

• Who to date?

• What classes to take?

• What college do I go to?

• What do I major in?

• Do I take a student loan or not?

• Do I postpone college?

• What if I took out a credit card?

I could go on.

Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose.