I could not believe it when I read this comment on ProBlogger…
“I think we would all love to have the ability of hindsight.”
Now, I am not saying that he is wrong. But I do not think he realises that a lot of us DO have hindsight!
The post he commented on was called ‘ProBlogging – 10 Things I Wish I Knew when I Started’, now I might just be being a little bit too pedantic (you would not believe how long it just took me to remember that word!), but I do not quite understand how somebody can write on a post about what somebody wish they did earlier and then say that they wish they had hindsight… surely a post about the past mistakes and solutions would BE the hindsight that they wanted?
And it is not only that post that speaks about past mistakes. I have spoken plenty of times about it on Success Circuit, and I know for certian almost every other blogger does the same. In fact, the whole of ProBlogger.net (where the comment was.. well.. commented) is focused on helping new bloggers to get past the mistakes that many would make without it.
IT’S BEHIND INFRONT YOU!
The main problem that most people have, and the reason why they make mistakes that so many people before them have made, is that they either do not know where to look or cannot be bothered. Personally, I think most people are the latter. Especially nowadays, it is the 21st centuary… we have the internet! This allows us to talk to people, in some cases even our inspiration or role models, and access content from places such as blogs and ebooks.
There is another couple of options (which are closely linked) as to why people do not have hindsight… ignorance and/or believing oneself can do better and could not possibly encounter any mistakes. The reason why these people do not have hindsight (and before you think that there are not many people like that… there is!) is because they do not think they need it. This reminds me a bit of the phrase “History repeats itself” or “Deja Vu”, for obvious reasons.
So, if you are a beginner or just starting a new project then try to learn from other people’s mistakes. Talk to them, read their blog, analyse their progress yourself (especially if you have been following them for a long time.
This really is the social age, so we should all start learning from each others mistakes and becomming somebody else’s hindsight!
Before you comment, if you have not already read it please read How To Write A Comment, thanks! This is to prevent a lot of useless comments we have been getting.