We all have regrets; things we would like a second chance at or wish we had done differently. But what if we knew now what our biggest regrets would be and could change them? A few weeks ago, I came across an article from a nurse who worked with older patients who knew that they were going to die and kept a list of their most common regrets. This led me to search online where I found other similar lists based on reflections of those looking back on their life near the end.

The most common regrets that people listed were as follows:

• I wish I hadn’t worried so much or focused on being happier
• I wish I hadn’t worked as hard
• I wish I had lived the life I wanted to live
• I wish I had stayed in touch with friends and family

Regret comes in two varieties: the things you did that you wish you hadn’t done and the things you didn’t do but wish you had.

In the short term, we tend to regret things that we did. But almost every list I came across revealed that the deepest regrets actually come from things we never did, but wanted to; or knew that we should. This includes “working too hard.” Why? Because it usually takes the place of something we would rather have given our time and energy to. “Worrying” is another one. It’s usually associated with fear or inaction.

One of the most impactful books I have read in the past ten years is Tim Ferris’s Four Hour Work Week. Tim dispels the typical “life deferment” plan in which people save money for many years doing work they really don’t enjoy, essentially deferring gratification until they are retired and can begin to “enjoy life.”

The problem with this plan is that most of us don’t know how long we will live or how healthy we will be in our later years. This approach also discourages us from finding happiness along the way so that we can enjoy the journey and not just the destination. Tim credits many of his four week “mini retirements,” where he’d head off somewhere and do something he loved, with helping spawn the ideas for his new books or businesses

The lesson is, don’t wait; don’t make excuses for why you’re not living your life in a way that brings you joy and fulfillment. There’s no better time than now to start living the way you want to live. You may have to take some chances to get there, but rarely will you regret doing so.