“Clear, written goals have a wonderful effect on your thinking. They motivate you and galvanize you into action. They stimulate your creativity, release your energy, and help you to overcome procrastination as much as any other factor.”
Brian Tracy
What is the one thing you wish you had done LAST year? Was it written down? Would it be a regret or an accomplishment if it had been?
“You can never regret anything you do in life. You kind of have to learn the lesson from whatever the experience is and take it with you on your journey forward.”
Aubrey O’Day
I don’t know about you but I have made plenty of dumb decisions and mistakes in my life. Some were minor and inconsequential, completely forgettable. Others however were absolutely life-altering. If given the chance to do it over there are plenty of things that I would do differently.
But truly don’t we all have that chance each and every day? If we take the time to learn and reflect on our life experiences, and build that knowledge into wisdom that guides us on our future decisions, then we can ensure that we make better choices when presented with crucial opportunities.
A life filled with regret is a life spent ignoring the lessons learned from our past to ensure that we have a brighter future. Living in this way is truly regretful…
“I have no regrets, because I’ve done everything I could to the best of my ability.”
Robert Redford
How many of us can truly say this? That we have done EVERYTHING to the best of our ability? I know that I certainly can’t say this about everything in life. I can say that for those times when I fell short of my goals, yet did everything to the very best of my abilities at the time, I have no regrets about the outcomes.
I say “abilities at the time” because for several examples that come immediately to mind I took the opportunity to step back and review the shortcomings and tried to figure out how to enhance my skills and abilities for the next time I would be faced with a similar challenge. It is not always successful but it has helped me to grow and improve and not be willing to settle for the status quo.
Do you have regrets? Do those regrets anchor you to the past or serve as a launching pad for the future? Have you expanded your abilities because of active reflection and review or just accepted them as they are?