A chalkboard stood in New York City inviting people to write their biggest regrets.
What is your biggest regret? It is a challenging question that requires introspection and courage to answer. You can only regret after you’ve examined your past actions and compare them against your meaning in life. To write these personal inner truths on a chalkboard in public requires courage.
The chalkboard had written across the top in big capitalized letters, “WRITE YOUR BIGGEST REGRET”. These are some of the answers:
- Not saying “I love you”
- burning bridges
- not making the most of every day
- Not getting my MBA
- Never going after my dreams
- Not staying in touch
- not pursuing acting
- not following my artistic passions
- all the self-hatred I put my body through
- Never speaking up
- Dropping out of school
- Not going to Montana
- Not being a better friend
- Never applying to med school
- Staying in my comfort zone
- Not getting involved
- Not having kids before my dad passed away
- Not playing enough sports
- Not being a good husband
- Not being a better friend
- Not challenging myself
The video draws some conclusions about these regrets: “They were about chances not taken. They were about words not spoken. They were about dreams never pursued.”
If you want to avoid regret in life, you need to have a habit of taking action. The source of regrets is laziness and fear.
Sure, some regrets come from taking wrong actions, but most often those wrong actions are so obviously wrong that it is not a decision worth thinking about. “Should I smoke crack?”, “Should I cheat on my wife?”, “Should I clean a loaded gun?” You would probably regret taking such actions. They are obviously bad choices.
Most regret comes from the less-obvious choices. They are choices that deep down inside, you know you want to do them. But you’ve never done it before, so they lie outside of your comfort zone. Whenever you get a feeling like this, you have to take action. Don’t get lazy or scared into paralysis.
What if we did the opposite of all those regrets people wrote on the chalkboard? You would get a list of things to take pride in. Maybe pride is the opposite of regret. Here is advice some random people in New York City might give you:
- Say “I love you”
- Don’t burn bridges
- Make the most of every day
- Get your MBA
- Go after your dreams
- Stay in touch
- Pursue acting
- Follow your artistic passions
- Don’t hate yourself
- Speak up
- Don’t drop out of school
- Go to Montana
- Be a better friend
- Apply to med school
- Don’t stay in your comfort zone
- Get involved
- Have kids before your dad passes away
- Play more sports
- Be a good husband
- Be a better friend
- Challenge yourself