Sunday Morning Regrets

One of the most terrifying experiences is to wake up on a Sunday morning with a pile of regrets of what you did the night before. You get chills down your spine and feel something deep in the pit of your stomach. Then you try to push the incidents out of your mind by distracting yourself with something else. Maybe you go for a run. Or make an elaborate breakfast.

But the truth of the matter is that regrets are good. They mean that you put yourself out there and took a chance. You may have not executed exactly as planned, but at least you had the balls to put it out there. And bravery and initiative are more often rewards than not. Let’s say that you walk into the office of the president of your company and try to pitch him an unsolicited new idea. He brings up a couple key flaws in your concept that pretty much kill it. You immediately regret not thinking things out. You feel stupid for wasting his time. You walk out with your tail between your legs. But this incident puts your on his (or her) radar. Most great leaders know that for each great idea, there are a thousand bad ones.

The key is to learn from your regrets. How did you execute poorly? What can you improve for next time? Then you use that exposure and experience to improve on your next pitch. The most difficult thing to do is to summon the courage to execute (and you’ve already proven that you can do that if you have regrets the next morning). The preparation and practice is easy. I leave you with a quote from Frank Zappa:

“It is better to have something to remember than nothing to regret.”

- Christian