If you spend more time than you’d like on regrets, consider this quote:

“Nothing is a waste of time, if you use the experience wisely.”

I’ve just found this quote from the sculptor Rodin, and it’s meshed in my brain with  examples of its truth that I’ve come across recently. All put together, this creates a mini-strategy for knocking regrets on the head, once and for all.

To explain further, I should say that being a coach does not make a person immune to regrets and attacks of “Could’ve, Should’ve, Would’ve”. What helps, is having the tools to deal with them.

One of the most powerful of these tools is to ask, as the quote suggests, “What have I learnt from this experience?”. Whether it’s to say or not say something, to do something better next time, or to grasp an opportunity instead of letting it pass, learning always helps to make an experience feel valuable, and to assist in the process of moving on, however painful the original blooper.

There’s a flip side to the quote as well. Every experience is, in and of itself valuable. And this is important to remember, especially if you’re one of those people who’s always berating yourself because you, “Could have done better”, or “Should have made more of their life”.

The plain fact of the matter is that each of us, just as the NLP tenet would have us believe, really is “always doing the best that we can.” Trouble is, it doesn’t always feel that way. However, if you me or any of us can hold onto this thought, and keep exploring the myriad paths and disparate activities that make up our lives, there does come a point at which all the pieces of the jigsaw come together.

Take the example of a woman I know who’s in her late fifties. Suddenly widowed, and having concentrated on her career in advertising for many years, she was left wondering whether she should have had children earlier in her life, and whether their absence was a cause for regret.

Now however, she is on her way to a new chapter in life, teaching English to children at a school  in Africa, and able to use every one of her business skills in helping the children’s community to publicise and make best use of the region’s talented individuals, wildlife and natural assets.

“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely,” might also read. “Every experience is valuable…eventually”.

I hope this helps, and that any regrets you might have can turn, one day, into experiences that bear fruit.