Judgment
We all seek to exercise good judgment, the quality of arriving at good decisions, selecting the best course of action, understanding situations and achieving constructive results. I like the notion of discernment as a major component of good judgment. My dictionary defines discernment as the power accurately to determine the truth, to see excellence, to judge character. Judgments as to people, their character, their conduct, are the most important judgments we're called upon to make. It's important to exercise good judgment, to be able to make good decisions. How do we develop good judgment?
A favorite columnist notes that good judgment comes from experience and that the most valuable experience comes from bad judgment. He means that bad judgment that leads to bad experiences requires us to examine what went wrong, where were we inaccurate, why did we miss the mark and that such examination helps us make good decisions, exercise good judgment in the future. Put another way, we learn more from mistakes than we do from good decisions because good results don't force us to learn.
One of my friends contends that skills at trivia are the foundations of good judgment. She reasons that since good judgment requires blending multiple inputs into a conclusion the ability quickly to recall multiple inputs is a first step. I see some validity in this theory. It's like the old saw that if we had to think about every muscle involved in walking we wouldn't be able to take a step. If we had to sit down and think about every element of our pasts before we could act we would be paralyzed. Perhaps the element of intuition that trivia skills invoke is an important part of good judgment.
One thing is sure. We need to use our experiences, good and bad, to develop the ability to make good decisions, to exercise good judgment. Don't let bad results get you down and don't be overly self-congratulatory about good results. Think about why you made a particular decision, think about why things went as they did, whether a particular result is good or bad, and you'll be well on your way to good judgment.
9-25-06
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