There’s many an example where people have been heard to say ‘if only I’d done that’.

It took me some time to realise that in doing so, it serves little purpose. You cannot turn the clock back. And you can only move forward from where you are at that particular point in time.

Experiences we encounter, can be good or bad. Good in the sense that we may have progressed professionally as we planned. And bad in that we chose the wrong dish from the menu, in that new restaurant that was recommended.

The best we can hope for is that we learn from these experiences. By either working out what the recipe is when things go well, so we can replicate the same again. Or understanding as to what we could’ve done better, to do it differently next time.

As human beings, this is easier said than done. As a lot of our thoughts and actions are driven by emotions.

But think of it this way, in what I refer to as the Big Mac theory.

No matter where you are in the world, and even if we don’t like or eat McDonalds Big Macs, you will always get exactly the same burger.

What McDonalds have done, is create something that every member of their staff knows how to produce over and over again. And where everyone of their customers knows exactly what it is, what to expect and what they’re going to get. Even replicating by developing non-meat versions.

Thus, we need to establish that if there’s something we’ve done or enjoyed, we need to understand why. So that we can do it again and again. And if something has not gone so well or we’ve not had a good experience, why that was. In order to make changes for the better. 

Remember that life is not a rehearsal, and we only get one crack at it. And although the money is important, it’s what we do with it that really counts.