Dictionary.com defines hindsight as “recognition of the realities, possibilities, or requirements of a situation, event, decision etc., after its occurrence.”  A great leadership tool if it can be used in the right ways.  The danger of hindsight is that it can lead to disappointment, guilt, regret, resentment, and other negative thoughts, feelings, and actions.  It’s easy to deal negatively with hindsight, and when we do, it affects our relationships in negative ways.  However, when education leaders use hindsight to construct positive developmental paths they enhance relationships and encourage progress in others.

I was once told that one of my greatest strengths is my ability to fail well.  I took it as a high compliment.  Educators are human beings.  It is inevitable that we are going to make mistakes.  In the classroom is has always been my effort to learn from the mistakes I make.  Sometimes I am able to.  Other times I find myself stuck in negativism, unable to get passed disappointing hindsight.  When I do fight through the disappointment to see the lesson in constructive ways – I always seem to grow.

The difficulty is that a commitment to growth is not always enough to ensure growth.  There is no magic number of times a person can misstep before he finds his footing.  There is no assurance that trying and trying again will result in success.  Sometimes you have to try again and again…and even again.  It seems to me that hindsight should be an optimistic thread woven into the fabric of forward progress.  Maybe it’s not the result of each situation, event, decision etc., that matters most. Maybe it’s the progress that we each go through as we realize that result and process it through a lens of hindsight and a commitment to failing well.

I’ll keep trying and report back as I go:).