There have been surveys that have been done on…
There have been surveys that have been done on older people who were asked what they would do differently if they had to live life over. Almost all of them said the same three things. The first is that they would take time to think or reflect more. This includes enjoying more and having more mindfulness. The second thing that they said is that they would take more risks. That life was too short. And the third thing that they said was that they would have left a legacy or something that would survive beyond the time that they die.
— from The Flight Plan (Purpose/Wisdom/Risk) · Energy Bus
In the book
The truth is plain, and worth staking a life on: human existence matters most precisely when you set a goal and strive toward an outcome you cannot guarantee; there is no reward without risk, and that is simply the exchange rate of anything worth having. Listen to the people near the end of their flights and you will hear it confirmed: their sharpest regrets are almost never the risks they took and lost, but the bold ones they never took at all — the whole architecture of regret is built on the words "if only I had". But hear the balance in it, because this matters and I have seen it ignored at terrible cost. — The Flight Plan (Purpose/Wisdom/Risk)
Keep a running list, too, of the achievements you are proud of, adding to it over the years, and another of the hardships you have endured that left you wiser — both are antidotes to the inner critic. Surveys of the very old, asked what they would do differently, return again and again to the same three answers: they would reflect more, they would take more risks, and they would leave a legacy that outlasts them. Life, as Kierkegaard said, can only be understood backwards — but it must be lived forwards. — The Relationship With Yourself (Traits/Reflection)