Have you ever said, “If only I knew then, what I know now…”? I know I have.

When I was 17-18 years old, if only I had known what I now know, I would not have gone down the same path. But all I can do now, is forgive myself (and others) and gain wisdom for the future.

I’m telling you this, because I want you to understand regrets do not have to sink you. You can bury yourself in regret and continue to make the same mistakes over and over again… OR you can choose to learn from those mistakes.

If you look back at those times in your life – those “half-baked” mistakes or decisions you made – you can evaluate them and figure out why you made those decisions. This presents an opportunity to actually learn a LOT! Did someone try to prepare you, or even prevent you, from making that mistake? If we are honest with ourselves, we will often find that yes, someone indeed tried to warn us.

See the importance of learning a lesson from this?! When you have a tendency to dig in your heels, thinking you know it all or don’t need help or advice from anyone, you set yourself up for future regret. A lot of people think this way – especially those between the ages of 18 and 25. Unfortunately, some even carry this mindset well into their adult lives.

I have one massive, life-shattering mistake I made, and now looking back, I see someone tried really hard to stop me from making that choice. She tried to show me how it would feel and what the future would look like, if I made that choice. She tried to expose the manipulation occurring in my life, but I refused to listen.

I cared so much about pleasing the wrong people… and didn’t care enough about myself. As such a hurt kid, with my self-esteem at rock-bottom, I honestly felt like I deserved to be mistreated and hurt. So with all of my crippling pain and ridiculous personal issues, I chose to reject the voices trying to help me and to accept the voices of those against me.

That led to make the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life, and I still pay for that mistake to this day. Even though my faith covers my mistakes and I know I’ve been forgiven, pain still resurfaces because of this mistake and the healing still continues.

So I wanted to pass this along to you today. Because the more you and I can stay teachable and the more wisdom we gain from others who are successful, the better off we both will be. When we make big decisions in our lives, we begin to see the bigger picture and gain a much wider perspective. And this, my friend, allows us sidestep regret in the future!

Don’t be that person – who STILL beats yourself up over a bad decision years ago – living in total regret and fearing yet ANOTHER mistake. You CANNOT live like that!

I encourage you to look back throughout your life – NOT to condemn yourself, but to just evaluate – and think about who you listened to and why you chose to listen to that person. Really analyze who you were at that time in your life and learn from it, so you break the cycle of bad decisions followed by the inevitable cycle of horrifying regrets.

You may have regrets about money, marriage, your kids, your job or your business. But you do not have to live in regret. You can use the current regrets in your life to give you the wisdom to make decisions leading to a better future. This is your chance to design your life in a fulfilling way, based on peace and harmony. This is your chance to create a life you want to live, both personally and professionally.

Have a heart-to-heart with your family today. This topic can make – or break – your future success, as well as the success of your family or your team. So take a few minutes today to share this with the people you care about. Just print out this message and pass it around, or even simply post this link on Facebook and Twitter. Then, please share with me below how your regrets over past choices have affected your life.

In great faith,

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