Bill Becker

Your Obituary and Regret

I haven’t been to that many funerals, but when I have, the same question pops into my head. “What will they say about me when I am gone?”

I sit there and think about the life I have lived and whether it’s worthy of praise, let alone great praise. Warren Buffet recently said, “You should write your obituary and then try to figure out how to live up to it.”

It makes you think about your life, and at some point, ‘regret’ pops up. I have regrets; I would assume most people do.  Sahil Bloom had a great article on regret. Regret is an emotion. It’s a negative emotion in that it’s an emotion that makes us feel worse, not better.

The problem with regret is it’s ‘after the fact,’ and while it might be somewhat motivational, it is far better to avoid it in the first place. Regret comes in different forms. There are things we regret doing and other things we regret that we didn’t do.

Daniel Pink wrote a book on regret called, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward. He actually conducted a regret survey, which cataloged over 23,000 regrets from people around the world. It’s a very interesting read.

That’s why I believe in my message about sales careers changing lives. You shouldn’t have the regret of being a better provider or enjoying better things in life (or even enjoying the very basics of a normal life). It’s not a pipe dream if it’s attainable.

My book will finally be out in a couple of days. I can’t wait to hear the stories of people who changed their lives with a better job! As I mentioned in the book, this project always had a big ‘giving back’ component.

I have speeches and webinars lined up to teach those who are down and out (who have been homeless, incarcerated, or in foster care) that they can use their life story to help them land a job that can change their lives.

Your obituary isn’t written until you take your last breath. That’s the beauty of tomorrow; it can be whatever you want it to be.

Happy Selling!