Regret
What it is telling youThe past is pulling your attention away from what is in front of you.
How He Sees It.
Eric separates two kinds of regret: regretting something you did, which you can learn from and even laugh at later, and regretting something you never did, which he found far more frightening because of how powerless it feels.
His turn came when he admitted he already had regrets. They were in the past, like everything else he learns from, and the real danger was letting them distract him from the chances arriving now.
On Regret, Word for Word.
Each line links to the moment it was said or written.
“In looking to the past and regretting not doing something, we lose focus of the opportunities that are now presenting themselves right in front of us.”
“Perhaps our mistakes even make us more into who we are than our successes do.”
“But I’m really starting to realize that dwelling on the past is also wasting time.”
What He Does With It.
Catches himself dwelling, shifts his attention immediately, and saves the lesson for later in the day.
Episode 17: Act of Giving, Time Is Money, Making Mistakes, and Listing ValuesAccepts his mistakes as part of who he is, which lets him say he does not regret them.
Episode 6: Social Pressure, Receiving Advice, and My Biggest FearsGlances back the way a driver checks the mirror, then looks forward again.
Episode 58: The New Year Starts Right Now