No regrets
Written by John Teel.
“You look like you’re 30 years old…” is what someone recently commented on one of my YouTube videos.
Wow! – was my initial thought – what a great complement (at my age)!
^^Ego inflated^^
Sadly, they go on to say…
“…but you look like you’ve aged 20 extra years from stress”.
Ouch! Ego deflated.
Although it was a nasty comment that I deleted, I found it funny and wasn’t actually offended.
But, to be honest, I don’t do well with the idea of aging.
In fact, if someone asks me my age, instead of answering in years, I prefer to answer how many times I’ve been around the sun.
It reframes age as something I’ve done instead of just the uncontrollable passage of time.
Thankfully, I feel great physically—better than I did at any earlier age, actually.
But there’s something about the relentless ticking of the clock that gets to me.
It’s not the physical side of getting older that bugs me (at least not yet!).
Instead it’s the fact that time feels like it’s speeding up, and there’s no “pause” button.
What keeps me grounded is this: I don’t want to have any regrets.
There’s no worse feeling than looking back and thinking, “What if?”
I recently came across a survey about seniors and their biggest regrets.
The majority of them wished they had focused less on playing it safe, and more on living in the moment.
Doing things like traveling, experiencing life, and taking risks.
Isn’t that eye-opening?
The things we often prioritize, like security and comfort, aren’t what we look back on fondly.
And while saving money is important, I doubt anyone’s fondest memory involves a high-yield savings account.
When I finally decided to leave my dream job as a microchip design engineer…
…and move to a small town in Alaska…
…while pursuing my dreams of developing and launching my own product…
…it wasn’t because it was the perfect time to do it.
It was because I realized the perfect time didn’t exist – except for now.
I took the leap, not knowing what the outcome would be, but confident that I didn’t want to live with the regret of what could have been.
And I have no regrets, because those experiences are some of the greatest of my life!
*Now we live in warm Arizona.
Aging is weird, yes. But nothing feels better than knowing you’re chasing your dreams instead of watching them drift further out of reach.
Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not encouraging you to take any big risks when it comes to money – that’s not what I ever teach.
Instead, I’m all about teaching you to take lots of small steps while minimizing your financial risk.
But, if there’s something you’ve been putting off—something that excites you, challenges you, or scares you—it’s time to stop waiting.
Take a step right now, even if it’s small. Small ones count.
Because here’s the thing: time will keep moving whether you take that leap or not.
And when you look back years from now, you’ll never regret the things you tried even if you failed—you’ll only regret the things you didn’t try.
Now, go make something happen! Your future self will thank you.
And I’m here to help you develop and launch your new product inside my Hardware Academy.
