How to Avoid a Life of Regrets: Observe Old People

How to Avoid a Life of Regrets - Observe and Take in Life Advice from Old People!

These last couple of days, I just can’t stop talking about how older people are the future versions of ourselves.

Whenever I reach that point, it is, more often than not, time to turn those thoughts into an article.

You can avoid mistakes, spot and act on opportunities in your life simply by tuning in to what the older generations are saying and doing all around us.

You can do this by either engaging with them or simply by observing them.

Not all of them are wise old men with grey beards. (Sorry ladies, it’s just a metaphor!) Nonetheless, even those who aren’t can teach us fundamental lessons about life—and we can learn lessons from old people simply by watching them.

Let me throw an example in here:

For many years, I went to the gym and lifted heavy weights. Many times, I heard some of the older guys there complaining that their shoulders didn’t work as well anymore, or about other injuries to their ligaments that they had damaged due to lifting heavy weights over the years.

Our bodies are not made for this.

If I had continued doing what I was doing at the gym for several more years, the exact same thing would have happened to me, and I would have been the one complaining about my damaged ligaments.

If those men hadn’t been there or if I hadn’t tuned in and listened to them, I would not have been able to take that peek into the future, and see that possible future image of myself.

These kinds of glimpses into our own future can be picked up throughout our everyday lives simply by observing and listening to people who are older than us – those who have already been through what lies ahead of us

This method could also help you to stop engaging in damaging habits such as smoking.

Look at someone you know who is around 10 years older than you, and who is also a smoker.

Look at how they look, their skin color, their teeth, their energy, their health…

There is no way this will be a look that is very flattering.

And you could avoid all that simply by seeing them as a possible future version of you.

While this life advice from old people is meant for anyone of any age, I would say this is particularly fundamental advice to take on board when you are still in your 20s.

You can avoid something that older people cannot anymore – regrets.

Take a look at the 5 biggest regrets of the dying… (I highly recommend you print them out and hang them up somewhere!)

Such regrets as “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me” is something you can avoid early on by taking this advice as one of your lessons learned in life, right here, right now.

You don’t have to wait until you are lying on your death bed to discover what truly is important in life – you have the chance to learn from those who have already gotten to that stage of their life.

Why make the same mistakes they have made and regretted?

Why would you not follow their advice?

If you cannot learn these lessons from old people, it will eventually be just the same for you: lying, waiting for death, mulling over the same regrets and imploring the younger generations not to follow in your footsteps.

So, it’s not just from observing that we can learn from older people. It is also from taking in their actual wisdom about life into our own lives.

I find that having a set of role models is incredibly important for that very reason. I closely follow people such as Gary Vaynerchuk, Tim Ferris and Tony Robbins for their wisdom on business and personal matters.

They have helped to make me realize certain things about myself, about relationships, money, regrets and what truly is important in life—all that I would never be expected to know being two decades younger than them.

But listening to them gave me the opportunity to stop making the same mistakes they made. Find people who can help show you that same kind of wisdom and follow their advice.

Don’t repeat their mistakes.

We are so lucky to be living in this day and age, that we can do this in so many ways. You can go through whole book collections on Amazon, listen to podcasts, connect on social networks, find articles, watch videos… and so many other ways to tune in to the words of wise people.

Older people carry something with them that you cannot possibly have yet – more life experience. Why not take advantage of that life experience and their journeys, mistakes, risks and triumphs. Take life advice from old people and turn them into your own lessons learned in life. Use them to build a better future version of yourself.