Regret is a powerful force. I usually think about regret negatively but I think we can really leverage the power of it if we shift our perspective. Some people say that they don’t have any regrets and I think that is crazy. If you have no regrets then you are essentially saying that you have lived exactly the way you should have up to this point in your life. Or perhaps you are glad about the mistakes you’ve made. Maybe by saying you have no regrets you simply mean that you can see how your wrong decisions were ultimately used to bring you to a better place. I can get on board with that but regret is healthy to feel because it shows that we recognize when we messed up. If we don’t recognize when we mess up then we have no hope to improve. I’m working through the 70 resolutions of Jonathan Edwards and his 51st resolution was…

Resolved, That I will act so, in every respect, as I think I shall wish I had done, if I should at last be damned.

Edwards was talking about regret. He recognized that there are people who get to the end of their lives and/or to the next life and feel powerful regret. He wanted to leverage that power to instruct the way that he should live in the present. I gotta be honest and say that I sometimes have a difficult time acknowledging when I messed up. I don’t like feeling guilty and acknowledging that I messed up can be challenging for me. When we realize we messed up and tell others about it, we can then learn how to improve.

When I think back on 2013….

1. I wish I had spent more time in my relationship with God

2. I wish I had spent less time watching TV

3. I wish I had been less impulsive in my spending

4. I wish I had been more intentional with my schedule

5. I wish I had been more diligent in exercising 

These are just some of the regrets that I have. I’m not allowing these regrets to drag me down but I do plan on leveraging their power to help me in 2014. What regrets do you have? How are you going to utilize their power to create the best year yet?!