Since our early years, most of us have been taught that we shouldn’t be judgmental about others or situations.
According to Derek Doepker, writing on HigherExistence.com, “If we refer to the definition of judgmental as simply exercising judgment as opposed to exercising criticism, then you’re supposed to be judgmental. It’s impossible for your brain not to form judgments. Without this ability, how would you ever discern truth from lies?”
What makes us judgmental?
- Our experience
- Our intuition
- Our DNA
- Our prejudices
- Our values
In his book Strategic Acceleration, Tony Jeary argues that the act of being judgmental is framed by what he terms the ‘belief window.’ The belief window “contains everything you believe to be true, false, correct, incorrect, appropriate, inappropriate, possible and impossible:
- It is framing all of your views of people, places and things, and creating the perceptions and feeling you have about everything.
- It is influencing the actions you take regarding those same people places and things.”
Tony might argue that being judgmental is neither good nor bad, although it is important to know whether your judgements are conscious or not, and whether based upon filtered observations that may include a likelihood for self-deception. Such deception would of course be bad since you would be making judgements from a skewed point of view.
However, I’d like to reassert that it’s not only natural to be judgmental, but also that it’s in your best interests to be so. It serves as a safety mechanism against physical and other kinds of danger and can give you a way of making decisions more quickly. But I would caution you to ensure that:
- Your judgement will result in an outcome that is in your best interest.
- The basis of that judgement is reason, not self-deception.
- You learn from past ‘bad’ judgements.
I’d like to assert that being judgmental will make your life better given that
1) you will make decisions faster,
2) get more done, and
3) be more successful overall.
Just make sure you consciously conquer the self-deceptive notions that can skew your path.