What’s your biggest regret?

I’ve been doing a lot of self-reflection lately and with that have been thinking about all the stupid decisions I’ve made. From going to class maybe 7 times my senior year of college and tanking my GPA to losing $100k on a single trade, I’ve had my fair share of full-retard moments. I wish I did an internship in college so I wouldn’t graduate and have my only offer be absolute shit. I wish I stayed in shape rather than listening to my fat parents tell me I’m too skinny and it’s ok to eat an entire pizza 5 days a week. I wish I focused more on making real friendships in college rather than how many thotties I could smash from my apartments GroupMe. I wish I did all of those, but I did learn from that and they’re part of who I am today so it’s not all bad. However, if I had to choose one single event, I’d probably choose that trade as that’s a shit-ton of money no matter who you are. I’m still chugging along, but that $100k returned at 20% annually over the next 20 years is $3.8M. Sure, that’s an aggressive return, but it’s not impossible. I plan on having enough money anyways so I won’t miss that amount too much, but as previously stated it’s still a fuck ton of money (yeah taxes would hit but that’s still almost $3M post-tax). I’m sure many of you will think of commenting how not grinding hard enough to get that prestigious investment banking internship junior year or not getting into Harvard is your biggest regret. If you’re who I’m talking about, please take some time to look at your perspective on life. Sure, those would be nice, but if that’s your biggest regret then you’ve lived a pretty solid life so far.

 
Controversial

Not focusing on fitness as much as I should have after getting a girlfriend

 

You guys need to stop ms this guy mindlessly. As an independent leaning toward right, I appreciate diversity of opinions on this forum.

 

32 this week. Not going to dump out my purse but I'll broad stroke it.

I played college football and was always pushing through physical pain (knee drained of blood and fluid twice a week my senior year of high school, no meniscus in either knee, misaligned hip, separated shoulders, bicep surgery and more concussions that I can count), so everything is more or less shot - makes working out a pain.

I relied on nicotine for stress relief and since stopping that, I've turned into a stress eater and (when it gets really bad) stress puker. This makes the working out even harder. 

No actual long term health issues yet, but I want to be around for my kid to grow up. So I'm slowing trying to fix the diet, work out, meditate, etc.

Since the quarantine I've really struggled with figuring out if I want to do this shit anymore or what I would do otherwise to make money (golden handcuffs), which adds another layer of stress.

I don't think I've slept more than 4 hours a night, two nights in a row, without drinking or heavy melatonin dosage since I was like 21. 

Long story short - don't do the shit I did to just "cope." It makes it so much harder to return to normal health, if it's even possible. 

 
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kootcapital69

I sold shares of GME 

You paper-handed little bitch. You earned this.

"The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly" - Robert A. Wilson | "If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 
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Careful, Isaiah will try to find your kids the second they turn 18 (or 16 in a state where that's the age of consent)

 

I never said anything about minors, you made that up. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

No major ones, at least not yet. Kinda wish I went to a better school but chose to stay closer to home for personal/financial reasons. The biggest personal regret I have is not telling a friend how I felt about her. She transferred schools and I haven’t seen her since. 

 
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Yeah, I’m happy with where I am in life. It’s just one of those “what if” things you know? I think we all have them. Besides we haven’t spoken for well over a year at this point and I think she’s moved on with someone else last I heard. It’s a lesson learned, will never make it again and not just in relationships.

 

Senior in college and the answer is being such an antisocial prick my whole life. I didn't ever want to go anywhere to meet anyone. Same goes for high school, never joined clubs, talked to the same people all the time, didn’t party.

Part of it is just my personality and I can’t help it. But I haven't made any substantial relationships as an adult. I don’t feel particularly sad or lonely, but I think there’s a lot of merits in having close people around you. Plan to put that right in 2022 when I start a new job. Already been putting myself out there a little. It hasn’t been fruitful, but there’s a bit of value in doing new things.

 

I've seen through your posts that you are a PE-style investor/operator. Do you think that not having a college education would've worked against you in whatever fundraising process / prospecting you may have done with potential portfolio companies? Just saying that even having a college degree probably helped in some way there 

 
  1. Maintaining health and cardio I had when I was young (high school and before). Still fit by most standards, but I used to be able to roll out of bed and run a marathon. Can't now. Health will be everyone's number one answer and you will still ignore it.
  1. Not asking girls out immediately when I first notice them. Another common answer you will still ignore.
  1. Scratching car at 2am after party and too tired to think straight.
  1. Not fixing small problem in car that lead to engine failure later.
  1. Not taking showers immediately after sex or not wearing condoms (yeast infections).
  1. Never getting into a street fight.
 

Asking girls out after you first notice them?

Why?  Wouldn’t getting to know them and then asking them out work better?  Or are you referring to hotties you see in the grocery store or something that you’ll never see again

 

Biggest regret in life would be cheating on my then gf (of 3 years) when I was in grad school. I never told her and I will likely take it to the grave, but I became so anxious and paranoid after that, it destroyed our relationship. I still hate myself for it to this day and I don't think I'll ever really forgive myself for fucking that up.

 

Dude relax, its your gf, not a wife of 5 years or something.

just fing lol at a  BIG regret in life being related to a college GF who was likely taking dicks from half the biz school class behind your back

 

I did the same in high school. Turned her down in front of all my friends while I was still a virgin. Random hot blonde came up to me and asked in the gym. Wanted my red face to go away before acknowledging, but by that time she left. Such a pussy damn. Never had anything like that happen again.

 

Succumbing to ego. I spent 7 years agonizingly striving to get into medical school because I was so tied to the egotistical idea of becoming a doctor and walking around with that title after my name. I got two substantial degrees out of those 7 years so it wasn't like I wasted all that time on fluff classes and subjects but I wish I spent those 7 years in finance as I would be worth much more financially now than I am. Ego is poison and it is the curse of the male sex.

 

Finished junior summer internship but didn’t get full time return offer. I had Study abroad plans for Senior Fall. I was set to start my semester there, I flew over to the destination and flew back home after two days over fear of recruiting and being left without a job post graduation. I also had panic and anxiety but I should have stuck it out and gained that life experience and partied it up.

I ended getting a full time offer during senior fall recruiting but was only there for a year and it was toxic and was unemployed for 1.5 years after. I was set back in my career and lost time.

So I guess the decision to fly back and cancel my study abroad trip really cost me

 

I lived at home with parents and I still do tbh.

I was applying for jobs but landing nothing, I did side hustles, freelance work, trading etc. to remain occupied. I wasnt having any luck until after 1.5 years a recruiter reached out about a role and I was able to land it, but man that was  a tough and depressing time.

 

No major ones but for a long time I regretted not taking school more seriously when I was younger.  I was an a minus student through high school.  I studied but did the minimum to get decent grades.  I spent too much time playing sports because I liked it better than school work.  

 
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Wish I didn't take the shortcut and cheat on an exam in college. Got an F, got a mark on the back of my transcript saying what happened, and dropped the major due to being unable to finish the major on time. Now my b-school prospects are even slimmer and GPA is down in the low 3s. Don't cheat people, it's not worth it. If you really are going to, make sure you damn well won't get caught. 

 
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My biggest regret is probably not having the strongest social life. I have friends around me that I hang out with every day but I look at others and see that they have such a strong friend group and they are always having fun and I get FOMO. I am pretty successful from a professional point of view (top leadership on campus, IB FT lined up etc.), but I think that has come at the cost of an optimal social life. I am pretty boring and honestly, kind of a hardo right now on a campus which is not very driven. This is something I am trying to improve but I really just regret that I don't have as close a friend circle. Honestly at this rate I am probably gonna be that IB/PE VP at 30 that isn't married and all he does is work, which sounds kinda dreadful.

 
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As a girl who goes to a "party" school and has been in friend groups before, those big groups you see on social media don't actually last. Whenever you see a huge group hanging out around campus or at parties, chances are they're not even close to each other besides from a few people. They might have acquaintances, yes, but they actually have very few real friends. Usually drift away by the time they're junior/seniors. If you're moving into a new city for your full time job, focus on meeting as many people as possible but also know that only very few will be your true friends that stick around and they might take time to find.

 

Not taking steroids/PEDs in high school

I was an above average varsity athlete (Baseball and track)

Didnt quite have what it takes to continue playing at D1

the D1 athlete lifestyle (for REAL sports, not lame ones like squash) is UNMATCHED.  

 
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I think my main one is not pursuing Karate longer. Seems random but here goes...

Joined the sport around 5yo, and became a black belt at 9yo (which I'm sure wasn't even legal lol). Kept going and training but I couldn't get to the next black belt level before 18yo, so as I was growing up I was rly losing motivation for the sport because I was teaching a lot of the time (despite only being like 10/11/12...) as there was no real reason to start training for the next level that early. As a result it felt like I wasn't learning much and was just being used to teach while simultaneously paying for lessons.

Eventually left the sport at about 14/15, for the same reasons I spoke about before + general teenagery things like focusing on school, wanting to get part time work and spending time with friends. I didn't really consider it until recently but seeing it become an Olympic sport this year does make me wonder how I shut off a path very early on in my life for simply not enjoying something.

I'm still happy where I'm at, joined a decent firm as an apprentice after getting A Levels last year - coming up to the 1 year mark now, with a great team as well! Heck, I've even got a coffee chat with the Branch CEO this morning! But I've started to wonder what could have been if I just decided to push through a little more

 
Most Helpful

I think nothing good can come of this thread. What's done is done and the younger folks are not gonna learn from other people's fuck ups. That's just human nature. If it were that easy, everyone would be fit, smart, rich, etc. It's also perfectly fine to screw up in life. 

My frame of mind is that I don't have regrets. I made the best choices I could based on the situation/feelings at the time. Should I have focused a little more on school work then hanging out with friends? Sure...and I knew that and the consequences at the time. Still chose to hang out with my buddies and made some incredible memories. At the end of the day it all worked out. 

Also, don't think all your regrets were bad choices. Could have gotten laid A LOT starting as early as middle school. I was way, way too shy to make a move back then. But in hindsight, maybe I dodged a bullet. No way I could've handled knocking up a girl. 

Forgive yourself, but never forget, that way you can learn from your mistakes. Most people on here are young enough where it's not too late to make some things right. You may not be the most successful person in the world, but chances are, if you're on this forum, you're in the top 10% of the WORLD based on professional success, education, and wealth. 

 
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I've had zero regrets in my life ever since I changed my way of thinking from being "results-oriented" (how I was for the first two decades of my life) to "process-oriented" or "decision-oriented" (how I have lived my life ever since)

Obviously, things in life can go wrong, but if you are honest with yourself and you acted or made a decision based on the best information you had at the time - then you shouldn't have any regrets even if things go wrong. 

Regrets come only when you kid yourself.

 

You can make the best decision and still have the outcome be bad due to unforeseeable events or things outside your control (or vice versa). If you only pay attention to the results you might think of yourself (or the project, or investment decision, or whatever it is) as a failure, whereas your decision making skills might have been correct all along. The baseline should be thinking "given all the information I had, was it the best decision" (decision-oriented), not "was the outcome good or not" (results-oriented). 

He's not saying you shouldn't care about results, obviously that's still important, but judging someone's actions based on results is flawed and can lead to punishing good decision makers who got unlucky or rewarding bad decision makers who just got lucky. 

For example, I graduated with my MBA in June 2020 with 6 figure debt and no job. Based on the results it would have seemed like that was a massive mistake, but even then I trusted the process and didn't regret it. When I was applying and enrolling, taking on the debt for the MBA was still the smartest move forward. And ultimately it proved out to be correct, I got my job, it pays more than double what I was making pre-MBA, even after debt service I have a higher cash flow, and it's the industry/work I want to do. If I judged myself and looked at my actions purely based on what the results were at the time I would have been much harder on myself than I was. The things I was hard on myself were things I rightly should have done better, having had the knowledge to do so, like networking more. I wasn't going to beat myself up about the decisions I made that were the right decisions but then someone decided to eat a bat and fucked up my results. 

 
Brio

Catch myself regretting not going to Bonnaroo one year cus I was still in student loan debt. Should have yeeted it on the credit card instead of being a narc lameo. 

Not my biggest regret - but similar thing with me and my homies going to EDC. Now, that EDC ticket is relative chump change.. while my homie had a blast and hooked up with hoes 

 

Here are my two cents. Feels good to get these off my chest. Not many people talk about mental health these days.

1. Leaving B school to work full-time because I got married young (20 yrs.).

2. Not taking my side hustle seriously (I was first to market. Competitor sold for $3m last year).

3. Moving in with my parents to focus on school. Damaged marriage and got too comfortable.

4. Not taking networking or school activities/clubs seriously.

5. Turning down key interviews because of social anxiety/fear of failure.

6. Having a child while still in grad school (don't regret baby girl, but regret timing).

7. Overall, not taking life seriously enough.

 

No regrets. I have had a range of experiences and all of them helped me in some way to get where I am today. Even the bad experiences were valuable. Dealt with a complex medical issue well into high school but resolved it before college. I appreciate everything I am now able to do because it's only been four or five years living a normal life

 
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1) Dicking around in high school. Had a 1540 SAT score, but low GPA. So I ended up a worse school than I otherwise should have gone to. 

2) Not drinking enough milk lmao. I'm about 5'10, but my two brothers are 6'3+. Kinda salty

 

Taking care of my health, i.e. exercise, diet, sleep. I've yo-yo'ed like crazy - and the last time I put on a ton of weight, I ended up being pre-diabetic, on a road to heart attack. Worst I've ever felt like. 

Also, not getting my ADHD diagnosis before my early 30s. Always had a suspicion. 

 

Some days I wish I could go back to my senior year, apply to a lot of the "party" yet solid academic schools I wanted to and do more career inspection (I got wait listed at a few T30 schools but was too lazy to retake the SAT which was my weakest part of my app, had a <2000). I was in tunnel vision and spent most of my senior year gaming rather than looking at different careers (a lot of people I knew the summer before senior year/freshman year in college shadowed different professions to get an idea -- I wish I did that).

 

"consooming"

Ahh, got another Nazi.  ConsumeProduct.win, the site where this phrase comes from, is filled with neo-nazi propaganda.

 
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I regret not maxing out my credit cards on TQQQ in March 2020. Now I'm destined to be a poor for ever.

 

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The poster formerly known as theAudiophile. Just turned up to 11, like the stereo.
 

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