Why Does It Bother Us So Much When Other People Make Bad Decisions?

Have you ever been watching someone make a bed decision and think to yourself, “What on earth are they thinking?” Then you shake your head and go about your day? I know that many of us do this while watching the television show Survivor. You see so clearly the obvious mistakes that they are making, while you watch from your couch usually after eating dinner. “Haven’t these people watched this show before they decided to become a contestant?” You may wonder as they are trying to start fire, again! It irritates you as you look for your blanket and grab your popcorn.

It is so easy to see mistakes that people are making when you are on the outside looking in. When you are not the one making a tough decision, the solution is obvious! Very obvious, because you really have nothing invested in the outcome. Because it affects their life and not yours! Now I am not talking about any situation that you are directly involved in, because that will automatically shift your judgment. When you are involved in making decisions your judgment becomes impaired. Many times your emotions become a determining factor and let’s face it, if you can make a decision more objectively without emotions being involved, piece of cake!

Watching your friends and family make bad decisions is hard. Now let’s define “bad”. From my experience watching someone make a "bad" decision is usually not even that bad. It is usually not something like drunk driving, stealing, or anything like that. I notice when people think that other people are making bad decisions what they mean by that is, “I don’t agree with what you are doing or that is not what I would do!” In other words, if it is not what they would like to see you do, then it is a bad decision. Hmmmmm……interesting isn’t it?

Just like survivor, the people on the show do not necessarily make “bad” decisions on a weekly basis. They just do not make the same decision that you think you would make if you were in the same situation (had you had the courage to make a video, send in an application, and go to some remote island for 30 days with people that you don’t know in order to “Survive”). Judging the actions of the contestants on this show is not really that far fetched from what people do every day back in the real world. You go about your day and many times during the week wonder why other people make such bad decisions. On some occasions you get together and even discuss these bad decisions with friends over lunch. If you think, “No, I would never do that!” Well you might want to think again….let's define the word "gossip". People love to gossip, “Do you know what so and so did! I know, why would they do such a thing?”

So the next time that you find yourself watching someone make a “bad” decision, you might want to stop and think, “Is it really a bad decision or just not the way that I would do it?”