verb: to give an answer without all the facts so you cannot be certain if you are correct; to give the correct answer or make a correct judgement; noun: an attempt to give the correct answer when uncertain if you are correct; an opinion formed without any knowledge of the situation.
Prefer listening to reading? Just click below.
I guess we all find ourselves having to guess sometimes, don’t we? After all, no one knows everything… Except maybe the world’s cleverest three-year-old! Regardless, we all experience uncertainty at some point. Whether it’s the answer to a quiz question that eludes us, or the pros and cons of a life-changing decision playing on our minds, when we don’t know, what choice is there but to hazard a guess?
There’s the rub. Guessing is hazardous by definition. We don’t know. We don’t know what’s best. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know if this is going to work. We don’t know if it’s right or not. We don’t know what the consequences will be if things go wrong. We just don’t know. And not knowing can be one of the most difficult things to accept, leading to a far worse problem…
You guessed it: I am, of course, referring to second-guessing. How much time have you spent trying to work things out that you simply didn’t know? Even understanding that our initial thought was a guess – thus, by definition, uncertain – we just can’t help having another go, (hence second-guess,) however damaging it may be…
Would they prefer this bunch of flowers, or that one? Well, this one has more variety… Yes, but this one has those yellow ones they like… Maybe we should just get something else…
Will it cost more to fix the car or get another one? Surely there isn’t that much wrong with it, now… Not after all the work that went into getting it through its last MOT… A lot can happen in a year, and if we hang on to it much longer it won’t be worth selling…
Red pen or blue pen? Red. Definitely red. No, blue. Red pens are for school teachers! But the red stands out more than the blue…
The reason I say second-guessing is “damaging” isn’t because of the decision being changed, or even the precious time wasted: it’s because of the effect it has on the mind. When we guess, we use our best judgement based on limited information. Therefore, when we second-guess, it’s our own judgement we’re doubting. Great confidence building, there! And guess what? That’s not even the worst of it.
When we start second-guessing, we almost guarantee we’ll be wrong. Or, it would be more accurate to say, we’ll believe we were wrong. We have to be wrong, because we made both choices: at least in our minds. And we didn’t know the outcome of either option. We still don’t know what would have happened if we’d gone left instead of right, but, for some reason, we believe it would have been the better choice… The grass is always greener on the other side, right? Unless it’s brown and prickly? How can we know? I suppose we’ll just have to give it our best guess, which might actually be better than some people’s knowledge, for all we know…
Now, dear reader, I feel we’ve had enough guesswork for one day. Enjoy whatever you do, preferably without second-guessing, and don’t think too much!
I’m guessing you’d like to subscribe to our newsletter, leave a comment or support our work? If so, please see below.
+ Click Here to Support Our Words
Subscribe to be notified whenever we publish a new post. No fees. No fuss. No spam.
