How Søren Kierkegaard’s View of Hindsight Can Help Us Reframe Our Work-Lives
Søren Kierkegaard once wrote, “Life can only be understood backwards… but it must be lived forwards.” This quote highlights the paradox that life is a journey we must live forward while trying to understand and learn from the past.
In our daily lives, this paradox plays out in many ways. For instance, think about watching a movie with a surprising plot twist. When you rewatch the movie knowing the outcome, everything changes. You reinterpret previous scenes, and your understanding of the story is different. Similarly, when we look back on our past experiences, they seem obvious and easily examined. But living in the present and future is uncertain and unscripted.
Kierkegaard’s philosophy of hindsight reminds us that every moment is new and unfamiliar, just like falling in love or experiencing a familiar place for the first time. We must learn to live with this uncertainty, accepting that we don’t know how things will turn out.
To apply Kierkegaard’s wisdom to our work-lives, we can:
* Reserve judgment and accept that we don’t know the outcome of every situation.
* Learn from our colleagues by recognizing their unique skillsets and experiences.
* Cultivate resilience and long-term vision within our teams by investing in continuous training, fostering a supportive environment, setting ambitious goals, and preparing for the future.
By embracing Kierkegaard’s paradoxical view of hindsight, we can better navigate the complexities of our work-lives and find ways to grow and thrive despite the uncertainty that lies ahead.
Source: https://bigthink.com/business/how-the-kierkegaard-view-of-hindsight-can-help-us-reframe-our-work-lives/