As you may know, I maintain an “I told you so” calendar as a part of my Google calendar.
When you tell me that the Patriots will finish in last place in the AFC East and I disagree, I make a note on my “I told you so” calendar. Then I call you on the final day of the NFL season to point out that the Patriots finished in miserable third place but not last place as you predicted, therefore, “I told you so.”
When you tell me that Bed, Bath, and Beyond will be a penny stock by the end of the year and I disagree, I make a note on my “I told you so” calendar. I also purchase shares of Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $11.70. Then I call you on December 31 to point out that you were wrong. Bed, Bath, and Beyond’s stock is currently worth $27.75, and I have more than doubled my investment.
When you tell me back in mid-February of 2020 that my concerns over this new virus in China are overblown and unrealistic, I make a note on my “I told you so” calendar to call you on June 1.
Then I delete that entry from my calendar and call you on April 1 instead.
People have told me that this practice is petty. I have been told that my fondness for “I told you so” is childish and stupid.
I don’t think so.
The problem is that there is no accountability for the predictions that people make. We blindly assert our views of the future with dangerous, unjustified confidence and certainty, safe in the knowledge that our prognostications will likely be forgotten by the time the future arrives or that no one will be willing to call us out on our mistakes.
Donald Trump declares repeatedly that the stock market will plummet if Joe Biden is elected President, but when the market hits record highs following the election, there is no means of holding Trump accountable for his words.
No one forcing him to acknowledge his self-serving stupidity.
When Donald Trump argues, again and again, that the media will stop talking about the pandemic on the day after the election, there is no mechanism to force him and his supporters to acknowledge that the pandemic still rightfully dominates the news cycle.
Stupid, self-serving things are spoken with impunity all the time, then they are simply forgotten when proven false, allowing people to make more stupid, self-serving predictions again in the future.
I want some accountability for the things we say. I want the bluster and bravado of people offering prognostications that are wrongheaded, naive, blatantly self serving, or stupid to be checked by the forces of future accountability.
My “I told you so” calendar represents a small part in the battle for accountability.
I also hold myself to this same standard.
Three years ago, I told my friend that by the time my daughter turns 12 years old, she will be doing her own laundry. He disagreed. In fact, he mocked my assertion. I added this moment to my “I told you so” calendar.
Clara turned 12 this month, and she isn’t close to being capable of doing her own laundry with any consistency. I was way off. Naive and foolish. An inexperienced parent who thought he knew more than someone with far more experience in these matters.
I plan to acknowledge this to my friend when I see him later this month.
He probably won’t care. He’ll likely laugh it off. But it will serve as a reminder to me that I should and will be held accountable for my words, too. The predictions that I make about the future should be made with care. I should avoid the bluster and certainty that has led so many to say so many stupid things.
Yes, it’s true. Saying “I told you so” makes me feel good. I enjoy saying those words quite a bit.
But just because it’s fun doesn’t mean it isn’t right or necessary or important.
