Top 6 Regrets of a Dying Entrepreneur
Being an entrepreneur is not as easy or luxurious or fancy as it seems. A lot of blood and sweat goes behind becoming a successful entrepreneur. They are driven by passion, determination, and perseverance.
Entrepreneurs try to bend the rules of this world and create their own rules to achieve their vision. But nothing comes easy. They meet their own set of disappointments and failures, some of which they carry with them to their grave. Just as everyone else, entrepreneurs too have their set of regrets. Below are some of these regrets that most dying entrepreneurs have so that you can learn from their mistakes.
Here are the top 6 regrets of a dying entrepreneur:
1. I Wish I Had Nurtured My Inner Circle
This is probably the biggest regret a dying entrepreneur has. When you work so hard and are engulfed by this passion for success or making it big in life, many a times it so happens that you stop investing time into your relationships. Your family, friends, and all those people who have been a part of your life seem to have been left behind while you moved ahead on your path to success.
Take out time to connect with them regularly, for they are the ones who have helped and prayed for you to be where you are today. You could set aside some time for them each weekend or ever fortnight or once a month. But let them be a part of your success and add on to the joy in your life and theirs.
2. I Wish I Hadn’t Worked So Hard
As mentioned above, being an entrepreneur isn’t easy. A lot of hard work and sleepless nights go into become a successful entrepreneur. But this is a regret a dying entrepreneur has. In the quest to achieve success and power, somewhere you stop making yourself a priority.
The first thing that gets tossed out of the window is work-life balance which comes back to haunt you later in your life when your time is running out. Wish you had taken out time to take care of yourself, invested in your health and enjoyed the fruits of your own labor, instead of just wanting to leave behind a legacy for others to enjoy.
3. I Wish I Had Taken More Risks
More often than not, when we look back at life, we think of all that we didn’t do rather than all that we did. For an entrepreneur, it makes sense to make calculated moves but not at the cost of holding yourself back from jumping into an idea that your brain and heart are set at. What are those 2-3 ideas that you have been constantly thinking about but haven’t put into action yet? Well, instead of just carrying them around with you, make a plan and ‘do it’.
4. I Wish I Had Made Myself Happier
Yes, while you are a successful entrepreneur, the one person you pay attention the least to is – your own self. And this goes on to become a regret. Instead of wishing on your death bed that you had made yourself happier, do it now.
5. I Wish I Had had the Courage to Express My Feelings
Dying people wish they had expressed their feelings more instead of suppressing them, thinking how it might hurt or offend others. And this holds true for entrepreneurs and business leaders. If you are thinking something, just say it. It’ll hurt you more if you didn’t say it.
6. I Wish I Had Lived for Myself
“Whose life was I living all these years” “Was it really me” “what was I doing” – these are some of the regrets a dying entrepreneur has. Instead of reeling under the expectations of others, ask yourself what is it that you expect of your own self. What is it that you wish to achieve this year and how would success look like if you followed your heart and mind, if you listened to that inner voice.
As they say, sometimes you don’t need to make a mistake to learn from it. It’s wiser to learn from the mistake of others. It saves you a lot of time and negative energy and makes life easier for you.
