Everyone probably experienced the feeling of seeing something we don’t have and believing — or hoping — that it is better than what we do have.

The reality, though, is that the possibility isn’t always what we imagine it to be. Sometimes it is better; sometimes it isn’t.

But it’s so hard not to get caught up in the power of potential.

I’ve seen in it clearly in my 25 years of covering sports.

It’s amazing how excited people get over recruiting in college sports or drafts in professional sports, when the athletes haven’t even had the chance to prove they can excel at that level of competition. It’s so much easier to dream big when you don’t have any reality to compare things to.

Another common example is the oft-repeated truism that the most popular player on a struggling football team is the backup quarterback. If Player A isn’t winning games, then surely Player B must be the solution.

I see this as a natural mindset that manifests our desires to have simple solutions to problems. If my favorite team recruits, drafts, or plays the right player, then they will be successful.

The issue, though, is that it is rarely that simple.

The BYU men’s basketball team had one of the top recruits in the country in freshman AJ Dybantsa join their team for the 2025-26 season and he has been very, very good — but it’s doubtful that he is going to be able to do enough to overcome multiple season-ending injuries to key teammates and get the Cougars a national championship as BYU fans hoped.

It’s just how things go.

I see the same realities in politics, both locally and nationally.

On the national level, I think it was very clear that the main reason Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election and the Republican party won control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives was because a majority of voters (particularly the 6-10% that actually decide the outcomes) were tired of the economic impact of the inflation triggered by the spending of the administration of Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders.

Those voters hoped the Republicans would be able to turn that around and make things more affordable for them.

Has that happened?

Probably not enough to prevent the pendulum swinging back the other direction this year.

The simple solution (i.e. putting Republicans in control) hasn’t to this point worked out as hoped — but it rarely does when dealing with complex problems.

That can be seen locally as well, with the local elections and statewide issues.

A number of mayoral and city council incumbents were ousted by voters in this last election cycle, hoping the challengers would do better at handling the issues their communities face.

In Utah as well as other places, we face the challenges of difficult issues like fair redistricting, checks and balances of power in government and applicable enforcement of immigration laws.

We can all hope that there are easy answers but that isn’t really the case. And what seems like the clear right answer for one person is completely wrong in the perspective of another.

I’ve come to the conclusion that looking at both what we have now and what we could have as black and white, right and wrong, good and bad, is just too simplistic.

To go back to the proverb, the grass on the other side of the fence may end up being greener and better — but it might be the same or worse or just different.

That’s why I think adding a little lens of realism is valuable.

Each step we take — whether it is who we elect or what laws are put into place or how we tackle tough issues — will have good and bad consequences. It will have smart people who see it from different angles.

By acknowledging that our initial impression might not have been accurate, we are much more empowered to adjust, to minimize the bad results and build on the good ones.

That, in my view, is our best chance to make real progress.

Jared Lloyd is the managing editor of the Daily Herald and can be reached at jlloyd@heraldextra.com.