Intro

There are many stories, movies and books about time travel.  It’s a fascinating concept.  Many of the story lines involve going back in time to fix something that didn’t quite go right.  The whole first wave Avengers franchise ended with this concept. And it would certainly be nice if we could go back and have another go at some of the decisions we made that led to regrets in our lives!  But that science hasn’t been discovered yet and we probably shouldn’t count on it anytime in the near future.

My Thoughts

However, there is a kind of pseudo time travel that we can apply to our lives that can help us avoid decisions that lead to regrets.  Like everything we have considered, it’s not perfect but it can help.  This process starts with getting to know your future self. 

Imagine yourself 10 or 15 years from now.  What do you hope life is like for you then?  What is your work life?  What is your family life? How would people who know you describe your future self?  Spend some time developing a good description of this future version of you.

Once you have a good idea of who that person is, you can imagine that future version of you traveling back in time to give advice to his or her past self.  As you consider decisions about time, money, relationships, jobs and so on, you can do a little “Back to the Future” time travel and seek the advice of your wiser future self. 

If you want confirmation that this can work, consider asking your parents or another trusted adult this question: “If you could go back in time and give advice to your teenage self, are their decisions you would have tried to get your teenage self to change?”  They may not be ready to tell you what those decisions are, but there are some!

Hint: Watch out for the “Everyone makes mistakes and those decisions made me who I am today.” line.  While that is true, there are still some things we all would do differently if we had “known then what we know now.”  Getting to know your future self is a way of benefiting in your young now from what your future self will know then. It’s as close to time travel as we are likely to get!

Conclusion

Like everything we have talked about, there is no way to guarantee no regrets.  And learning from our regrets really is a part of life - of growing into the person we want to be.  But taking time to use some of the strategies we have talked about over these last four posts can help reduce decisions that lead to regrets while increasing decisions that can keep you out of the weeds and give you growing confidence for the even bigger decisions that are coming in the future.