I spend most of my time searching and reading about places in the world or things I need to see and experience. Lately I’ve found myself reading quite a few articles about regrets in life. I mean, with social media we get pelted with quotes on a daily basis. I really love reading positive quotes, even if it’s one I’ve read several times before. I do hope that they don’t lose their genuine meaning in the dilution of news feeds. For me personally, I like to read them daily and throughout the day. It helps me keep a positive attitude and coaches me through the average day.

These words of wisdom by some of the most compassionate, intelligent, brilliant, wise and experienced people that have existed on our planet are huge keys to our success and healthy minds. Trying not to slide to far off of my intended topic, some of the more redundant regrets have been jumping out at me. Here are the ones that I feel are at the top of people’s lists –

1- Being True To Yourself
Living your life the way that you truly want to, for you. Not living it the way you think you should or how someone tells you that you should.

2-Realizing That Happiness Is Your Choice
Some people stay in unhappy situations as it’s more of a habit and comfort zone, opposed to making the changes needed for their true happiness. Settling for a mediocre existence when they could have spent years enjoying a richer more for filling life.

3- Staying In Touch With Old Friends
Letting friendships slip over the years. It’s easy to get caught up in your everyday life. Friends move, they get married and divorced, they have kids or get new jobs. I always have in the back of my mind to call or plan a visit with good friends, but days go by and turn into weeks, months and even years. I can easily see how this will be an overwhelming regret at the end.

4- Loved ones Knowing How Much They Are Loved

5- Gone on more trips with the family/friends
Most folks stay close to home. They don’t travel all that much. Yet, big trips with friends and family – to Disney World, to Paris, or even to the lake – are the stuff that memories are made of later in life. We’re all thrown in to some new unfamiliar situation together. We’ve got to figure it out as a group – and it’s fun, even when it rains. We really remember trips.

6- Spending more time with the kids.
I had an old mentor who used to tell me, “when it comes to parenting, it’s not quality of time that’s important, it’s quantity of time.” When we get so busy at work, we comfort ourselves knowing that we’re going to stay late at the office again with the idea that we’ll make it up by taking our son to a ballgame on the weekend. As long as I spend some quality time with him, we think, it will all balance out. It probably won’t. There are lots of busy executives who take control of their schedules in order to either be at home for dinners more or be at those special school events with the kids. Kids do remember that.

7- Not taking care of my health when I had the chance.
Everyone doesn’t think of their health – until there’s a problem. And at that point, we promise ourselves if we get better we’ll do a better job with our health. It shouldn’t take a major calamity to get us to prioritize our health and diet. Small habits every day make a big difference here over time.

8- Getting involved with the wrong group of friends when I was younger.
We do dumb stuff when we’re young. We’re impressionable. We make friends with the wrong crowd, except we don’t think there’s anything wrong with them. They’re our friends and maybe the only people we think that truly understand us. However, we can really get sidetracked by hooking up with this group. Sometimes it leads to drugs or serious crimes. We never start out thinking our choice of friends could lead us to such a difficult outcome.

9- Working so much at the expense of family and friendships.
How do you balance meeting that short-term deadline at work and sitting down for dinner with your family? It’s tough. There are always worries. “What will my boss and co-workers think? It’s not a big deal if I stay late this one time. I’ll make it up with the family this weekend.” But the “making up” never seems to happen. Days turn to months and then years and then decades.

10- Turned off my phone more/Left my phone at home.
Many of us can’t get off our phone/email addiction. We sleep with it next to us. We carry it with us constantly. It’s right next to us in the shower, just in case we see a new email icon light up through the steamed up shower glass. We know constantly checking email and Twitter in the evenings and on weekends takes us away from quality time with family and friends. Yet, we don’t stop.