In my opinion, there is a difference between critical observations and judgement. Someone who makes critical observations is sensitive to the multiple factors that might contribute to a circumstantial outcome. Someone who judges tends to be affected by slight emotional pushes and tends to react to occurrences as they are, without regard of contributing factors. The pursuit of the "why" and "how" distinguishes the critically observant from the judgmental. When you are quick to judge and dismiss someone/something without studying the "why" and the "how", you might be limiting yourself to one perspective. This blinkered perspective, however unconscious, could lead you to not open yourself to possibilities and a wholesome understanding of the subject. It limits the possibilities to change the "why" and the "how" so that a mistake or undesirable outcome would not happen again. This is how opportunities sometimes slips away.
So make a critical observation today: be clinical in your dissection of a problem and do not jump to conclusions that is guided by gut feelings. Prick up your ears and peel open your minds. Give someone else (and by extension yourself) a chance, you may otherwise never know what lies behind what you can immediately perceive.