Ditch Hindsight: Reflect Forward with These 4 Questions

Nathalie Bonilla
4 min readOct 29, 2024
Photo by Neriman Özaydın

Our brains are literal masterminds at creating our reality. They’re constantly manufacturing stories, about who we are, what we’re doing, and what’s going on in the world around us.

The problem? They can be too good at recreating stories and using those perceived mistakes or failures against ourselves in the future. In theory, it’s an evolutionary extinct that may have once kept us safe from entering into the cave of another sleeping bear. In the modern world, it can create a loop or a trap inside someone’s head.

So how do escape a thought spiral? Think something else. Instead of saying hindsight is 20/20 or saying you didn’t get anything done, ask yourself these questions instead.

Where Were You This Time Last Year?

The problem with time, is that it’s extremely objective. Late at night when you can’t sleep, it’s easy to forget that you’re comparing yourself to someone you no longer are. Where were you this time last year? If you’re comparing yourself to a few weeks ago, progress may be hard to see, but look back over a year and you’ll notice how much you’ve grown.

And if, after a year, you don’t see the progress you’d hoped for in one area, take a closer look — where *have* you grown? Sometimes we need to learn and develop…

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Nathalie Bonilla
Nathalie Bonilla

Written by Nathalie Bonilla

science + psychology = bigger, brighter mindset. Writing things that get in your thoughts and improves quality of life from the inside out.