How to live without regret

Here’s something to consider.

It’s OK to quit in life. It really is!

It’s OK to try something, give it your best, fail, try and fail again but ultimately decide that life has something else in store for you.

But what is NOT OK is to give up on an idea before you even try or before you take one step towards it.

Don’t let your idea, your dream or your vision go before you even try it.

What you get out of life is built on the things you touch, feel, smell and experience. It’s not built on ideas or visions or dreams in your head. No! It’s built on the things you do and experience for yourself.

It’s OK to experience something and decide that it’s not for you. It’s OK because you took a step forward and did it for yourself. You tried it, maybe you succeeded, maybe you failed but you did it! You can’t ask any more of yourself than that.

But a purposeful life is one that is built on knowing that giving up on something you have only envisioned or thought of and haven’t yet stepped towards… that is selling yourself short!

To give up on a vision for who you want to be, to give up on a career you want to have, to give up on the person you want to be with… without ever taking a single step towards those things… that is selling yourself short. 

Don’t be that person.

Be someone who has an idea, a vision or a question mark in their mind… and instead of casting it aside as silly or unlikely… you take a step towards it. Just a small step.

A small step that simply puts you in the game to try for yourself. From there it’s OK to decide to quit if it’s not right for you but you can do so with no regret because you experienced it for yourself. There’s no shame in that. You owe it to yourself to step toward that thing in some way.

You owe it to yourself to live with open eyes, an eager heart and say not yet.

Not yet. I’m going to try first. I’m going to see it with my own eyes first. Commit to not giving up on something until you’ve put yourself in the game.

• Don’t toss that aside the idea of a relationship because you think someone is out of your league..
• Don’t scoff that $100K a year is unrealistic.
• Don’t think you can’t be famous or influential. 
• Don’t think only lucky people get their moment and give up on being a writer, podcaster, artist, musician, whatever. 

Don’t give up on an idea! Don’t give up on something before you try it. 

Live with open eyes and an eager heart and take step toward those ideas before you cast them aside. 

There's no shame if you try and decide you don’t have what it takes or you realize your heart isn’t it. You can hold your head up high knowing that you tried. But giving up on an idea before you’re even in the game is something you will grow to regret.

Because a step forward - even if it’s into the unknown - is a step that opens you up to opportunity.

You don’t know where a question or curiosity might lead you. It could completely change your life, lead you to new places, careers, bring amazing people, friends or significant others into your life. But if you give up when it’s only an idea… you are selling yourself short.

Say: I am curious, I have open eyes and an eager heart. That means I have to try. I have to see for myself. I have to experience, touch, feel and know.

Don’t let go of an idea because you think it’s out of reach or unlikely. 

There is no shame in taking a step and realizing it is in the wrong direction. OK! But now you know.

Push yourself to live your life with fewer question marks in your eyes and heart… because you are committed to saying … not yet.  Don’t assume. Don’t give up on an idea until you at least take one step towards it.

Send that text, send that email, sign up for that class, make that video, apply for that job, get in the gym, put pen to paper.

Take one small step forward.

Live with open eyes and an eager heart. When you do, you’ll have nothing to regret.