Daniel Pink

I had a guy who talked about this guy, lovely guy from Tennessee who had a tough background, but did very well in his career, but never saved money because he ate out all the time.

And he felt good about taking people out to dinner, picking up the check all the time.

And you go out to eat, you know, five times a week for 10 years, it's gonna add up, man.

And so, you know, suddenly he's like, oh my God, I'm 40 years old.

I have no savings.

And I'm like living paycheck to paycheck, even though I have a good job.

So it's those kinds of things.

So that one time you go out to dinner and treat your friends, it's all cool.

It's the accumulation of it all that really does it.

So, and again, it erodes the foundation of our lives.

And one of the things about regret is that regret

is telling us what constitutes a good life, okay?

So these four regrets are telling us what makes a good life.

And one of the things that makes a good life, and I think sometimes gets short shrift, is that a good life has some stability.

A good life has a foundation to it.

A good life is not precarious.

You know, we can talk about self-actualizing and feeling a sense of purpose and meaning and da-da-da-da, but if like you can't pay your rent, your life is less good.

In that famous fable, you had the grasshopper who was spending all summer playing the fiddle and dancing around.

Or you had the ant who was assiduously gathering food for the dark winter.

And here's the thing.