You Can Go Back and Undo ONE Mistake. What do you do?

Going to a T30 to study CS rather than accepting an offer from an Ivy to study history. I love prestige, and while my school is well known in the tech industry, I really feel that I belong in the elite communities of the Northeast, not the shitty leftist SJW region known as Silicon Valley.

Decided against going on a flight to Europe for a two-week trip because there was a girl I was fucking back home in California that I didn't want to leave. Not really that much of regret, I was having a good time, but just funny and kind of dumb looking back on it.

i wouldn't have covered my ES short on Monday Sept 29 2008...rather i would have let it ride the next 2 weeks.

Worked harder to get into a great college.

bought bitcoin when i found out about it in 2014. I mean, it wasn't trading at a few cents, but still could have made a pretty penny.

Born into a billionaire family.

This is where you say no regrets... It’s unfortunate that I am who I am and it’s something I fight everyday. But I can’t say there’s a mistake I’ve made in my life that wasn’t as a result of who I am. If I were to go back and change one thing, it’d probably be me climbing back into my mother’s womb. Maybe I’d ask God for a different personality or set of circumstances.

Accepting the first offer

I'd be nicer in general. When you're young, ambitious and hardworking it's easy to develop a perspective of Me vs. The World. Everything is another challenge and anything that stands between you and where you want to be is cannon fodder. Plus, you're the hardest worker you've ever known, so you can justify being a douchebag to the lazy and unimpressive masses, right? Then you get to be 27 and you look at the list of people you've hurt, relationships you've severed, lies you've told, commitments you've reneged on and all of the sudden you start wondering if the extra few bucks a year is worth alienating yourself from the people around you. Do the extra commas in your bank account and hours you spend at work absolve you of your personal transgressions?

I wish I would have connected with people more when I was young. Everyone was always just a piece in MY game to me. The people I worked with were just chumps I had to be friendly enough to, until I made my next lateral. My girlfriend in New York was just some chick I'd be with until I moved back to DC. My bosses were just some people trying to use me for cheap labor - fuck any commitment I made to them.

I've sure killed it in my professional life, but boy oh boy do I wonder how things would have turned out if I would have just taken a simpler job in a simpler industry and focused more on building connections and my family life.

This life you lead was not built for those with a conscience

Reading your post....

Two years ago, I decided to take a later flight home after spending a few days at corporate headquarters instead of rushing to make the mid-afternoon flight. I ended up sick with a lung infection and spent nine weeks in the hospital. My life is now totally diminished - I am on supplemental oxygen and I rarely leave my house. What would have happened if I got on that earlier flight? This haunts me every hour of every day.

Honestly, a little boozed up right now....

I sometimes regret the life I’m living right now....I work all the time. Including client dinners, trips, etc late at night if I ever actually leave the office early. I make good money and have a high spending lifestyle on schools, camps, vacations, etc. not sure how to stop or if I really want to. A lot of people rely on me for their jobs and I love helping people in their careers. I love making money. Not sure I’m going to love talking about making money and whatnot on my deathbed. I’m also sure I’m going to die relatively young given the lifestyle I live. I have a ton of life insurance, which is comforting.

People talk about finding ‘balance’ and I’ve never been able to find it. I probably never will. I don’t really work weekends other than pounding the BlackBerry. That being said, I’m dying for Monday to come around because I love being at work. I know that’s a bit sad, but what can I say.

Sorry for the drunken rant. No need to comment on this post.

Nothing big but doing a year abroad my 2nd year of undegrad would have been nice. I was so obsessed with the city I was studying in that I didn't consider an experience like that would add much value or be interesting. Sounds dumb right? It was - I did a semester abroad during the 2nd year of my post-grad degree and it was incredible so I really wish I could go back and do it for UG too. Plus the places to choose from weren't bad (Sydney, Hong Kong, Stockholm and a couple more I don't remember)

Depending on the day I'd have (i) continued playing poker and not gone to college at all or (ii) while in college, stayed on w/ the development company I was at instead of going into my school's IB feeder program - in hindsight, the $30k/year delta between what I would have made in development vs IB in my first couple of years seems like a small sacrifice to have continued doing a job I loved.

I would have invested earlier in bitcoins. I remember 2013/14 when I heard the first time about cryptocurrency and thought 'what a scam' and 'this won't last very long, and every investor will lose their money'. I kinda expected that the bubble would burst earlier. However, I was wrong - very wrong. That's why I invested way too late in this specific crypto but in others though. This is what I would undo in terms of finances ;)

In terms of life, I would probably start earlier learning new languages. As many as possible. Every single one fluent. The older I get the more I realize how important speaking several languages is. However, the older you get the harder it gets to learn a new language.

I'd have never discovered the internet. Think of how much more productive I'd be if I didn't spend all this time shitposting on Reddit and WSO. Also I wouldn't have to look at everyone else's highlight reel on IG and FB, so I'd probably be more satisfied with life.

Downside is I guess it'd be harder to get laid without Tinder and I also wouldn't have access to porn, but hey there's gotta be a sweet Amish girl around who I can convince to pump my butter churn.

Basically everything through the age of 24(all completely my fault) but not accepting the internship offer I got for last fall definitely sticks out.

ptm24:

You Can Go Back And Undo ONE Mistake. What Do You Do?

Ahhh yeah, this question again. Last time someone asked me this it was about 4 and a half years ago and I requested to undo one thing and it changed everything. Kind of like that Butterfly Effect movie. No one believed me either and I just thought it was because they didn't have the memories that I did as my brain remembered both realities.

So, if I could undo ONE mistake, it would be to undo that last undo moment, as it was pretty rough as I was not expecting that or prepared for it.

"Even the jasmine and cherry blossom feel the wing of butterfly in winter night." - Confucius

Everything

I have made the same mistake, over and over. 1) I was studying architecture in university. I knew it wasn't for me. I had the chance to switch my major to business (at the #1 ranked business program in US). I didn't do it because I got cold feet about the additional time it would take in school. I tried to take a short-cut, and it became a long-cut. 2) Years later after MBA I was in an investment banking rotation - being rotated thru equity research, PE, real estate PE, and ECM. I jumped out early to join a PE shop. I therefore wasn't as technically trained as I should have been, and eventually got cut. I missed out on my ibanking bonus, the training of going to different departments, etc. Bad move.

I would not have done a long distance relationship in college. SMH.