I don't think I would consider a good action wasteful, even if their might have been a outcome with more of a benefit. While it's worth considering for example

I don't think I would consider a good action wasteful, even if their might have been a outcome with more of a benefit. While it's worth considering for example what the best way to improve overall health is as there's no real objective way to evaluate the superiority of advocating for reform versus helping people directly there isn't much more information available past your present biases and past experiences to sway you one way or the other. I might be able to for example estimate that 1M spent on reform might have x% chance of improving outcomes for y number people, but it would be so tortured of an inference it's really just a guess based on what you already think. As a result I think going with your best guess is good enough, to avoid decision paralysis if nothing else.