Actress Mae West famously said “you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. You don’t want to wake up one day, decades later, wondering where all the time went in your life. There are many ways to leave this Earth with no regrets, and that starts with you living a fulfilling life.
If you were to die tomorrow, would you have any regrets? Would you regret not doing more stuff in your life, take chances, and push yourself out of your comfort zone? I absolutely do. There are many things like traveling that I want to accomplish before I leave this Earth.
I spent the first five years or so of my career saving and investing as much money as I possibly could. With a tight budget, there was no choice but to restrict some experiences my friends were having. While my friends were traveling different cities and countries, I was hanging out in my city.
However, does that mean that I would regret my life? Not in the slightest bit. If I had to live my life all over again, I would make the exact same choices without hesitation. I made the right choices. Some didn’t work out, but I can only make decisions based on the information I have.
If the answer to the question is that you would have regrets if you were to die tomorrow, then there’s work to do. Take more risks and fail miserably. You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough. There may be some phases in your life where you are sacrificing today for a better tomorrow.
However, as long as you know the full picture of the life that you’re doing, there should be no regrets.
You Only Live Once But If You Do It Right, Once is Enough Meaning
You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough means that you are actually and truthfully living life to how you want it to be. Choices should be yours and yours alone. Don’t live your life for somebody else. Fail and succeed on your own accord, not anyone else’s.
It’s important to practice brutal honesty here. Some people won’t ever admit that they regret their life choices so far. The only one who you’re fooling would be yourself. Truthfully and objectively evaluate whether your life could be better. If it is not better, then what are you going to do about it?
There are many people wishing that we had two lives. So many people wondering “if I was 20 years younger, I would make these choices”. Instead of wishing that you made different choices, why not make the right choices today? The past is the past, you can’t ever change it. Ever.
The first step towards the no-regret land is through acceptance. No matter how bad your past was, accept that it happened and eventually move on. There’s nothing wrong with dwelling on it for a week, a month, or maybe even a year. Afterwards, move on with life. Life will move on with or without you anyway.
You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough. We regret more of the things we didn’t do than more of the things we did do. Sure, we regret things we did do, but we would regret it even more if we hadn’t done it. I regret losing tens of thousands of dollars on stock trades.
Do you know what would have been worse than losing money? Being stuck in one place.
Why Living Once is Enough
One reason why you only live once but if you do it right, once is enough is because you can CRUSH that social share button and post to your favorite social media! All you have to do is destroy that share button once and share with your friends and boom! That is more than enough!
In seriousness, let’s go over the reasons why living once is enough.
1) Life is Long
One of the greatest myths that people like to say is that “life is short”. No. life is long. People overestimate what they can achieve in one year and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade. Ten years is an insane amount of time. I think about my time from when I was 10 to 20 and think about how much time passed.
Then I reflect on my time from 20 till now and can’t believe that I still have years left until I hit the next decade of my life. That’s why you only live once but if you do it right, once is enough. Whatever mistakes you made or whatever bad hand you were dealt, it’s not even close to being over.
Make sure the answer to the question, “if you were to die tomorrow, would you regret your life choices” is never a yes. One way to make the answer to the question a no is to actually go out and do the things that you want to do. Another way to make sure that the answer is a no is to accept the choices you’ve made.
That the choices you made were based on the best information you had at the time and that regrets are just a waste of time. Either way, there’s more than one ways for you to move forward.
2) You Have Infinite Options
Think about your life right now. What’s great about it is that your life today is statistically impossible. Considering that each day of your life has infinite possibilities. Then the next day has another set of infinite possibilities. Then that snowballs even further. All of those infinite sets of possibilities added up to your life today.
That’s how wonderful life is. You made it this far even with the infinite amount of possibilities that exist every day. From those infinite sets of options that you have today, you get to do whatever you want, within boundaries. That’s why you only live once but if you do it right, once is enough.
You are the complete pilot of your life. You get to decide where it starts the flight and where you end up by the end of it all. Make choices that are good to you, decisions that are going to pay dividends into the future. Let compound interest do all of the work.
It will be more than enough by the end of it.
3) Opportunities are Endless
There are countless examples and stories of people who’ve gotten to their dream lives in a short amount of time. Think of how many people made amazing strides in the coronavirus pandemic. There are many stories of people making $200,000+ during COVID because of opportunities.
There are countless stories of people finally quitting their jobs and traveling the world to fulfill their lifelong dreams. The Great Resignation is full underway as people had time to actually figure out what they want out of life. It may have taken a global pandemic, but people are actually figuring out the important things in life.
There are many opportunities for you to pursue your ideal self. Now’s a better time to go after it than any other time in the history of the world. If you won the birth lottery and can afford internet to read this article, you have endless opportunities to work with.
Endless opportunities with a long time, what’s not to love?
You Only Live Once, So Do It Right and Not Wake Up With Regrets
It’s a horrible feeling to be filled with regrets. There are countless stories of people getting to the “Managing Director” status at banks only to realize their chances at love are running out. Or lawyers who are clearing millions of dollars a year yet are on their second divorce.
You don’t want to be filled with regrets down the road. Every second that passes is in the past. Although the past isn’t important, remember that time is nonrenewable. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for life with zero chances of recovery. How hurtful would it be for you to wake up at 50 with no wife and children?
Some people are single by choice. However, can you honestly say that you wouldn’t regret being in that position? Sacrificing love for money can be good for 2 – 3 years. However, after decades of that consistent trade-off, there’s a good chance of regret seeping in.
You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough. However, if you do it wrong, once is not enough. You don’t get a second life by pressing “CTRL+Z” and start at the last part you wanted to start at. That’s not how life works. Every year, make sure that your temporary goals catch up to your longer term goals.
My long term goals are to have a family. However, I am currently in the asset building stage of my life. Although the asset building phase will eventually phase out and lose to my longer term goal, I know that I will get there just in time for me to realize my dream of having a family.
I will never sacrifice my long term goal for my short term goal.
You Only Live Once but If You Do It Right, Once is Enough
As much as I would love to live life twice, I know it’s not a possibility. All I can do is make the most of what I’ve been given. Although I have pained and toiled for the past five years, I know that it’s going to start paying off in years six and seven. And thereafter. Short term pain for long term gain is completely worth it to me.
If my life were to suddenly end in year five, I would not be sad. Does that mean that I didn’t make decisions that I don’t regret? Of course not. I have many regrets about my past decisions. I wish I took a gap summer instead of working every summer during college to figure out what I want to do.
Instead of focusing on extracurricular activities in high school to impress potential colleges, I wish I took more time researching side income generating opportunities. There were a couple of friends that I cut out of my life a year too late. There are plenty of things and decisions that I have regrets on.
However, do I regret my life as a result of those choices? Never. You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough. I accepted that those choices were a part of who I am as a person. Whether they turned out to be incorrect is irrelevant. What matters is that they made me into who I am today.
I love who I am today and wouldn’t change who I am for the world. That’s the eventual mindset that you should get to, as well. Once you get there to a point of self-acceptance, a whole new world of possibilities open up.
Fantastic sentiment. You have pointed out, correctly, that once the lesson is learned, regrets are a waste of time. I wish I had read your posts as a young man, and have spent decades marinating in the rich broth of my many regrets, which I now also regret. Um, wait. That didn’t sound right.:-)
Your long-term plans sound interesting and fulfilling. With the multiple paths to financial security you are pursuing, there is no doubt that establishing yourself as a high-value male will attract a prime pool of high-value mates from which to choose. In the meantime, you are killing it with your short-term plans, and hope your new position is to your liking!
That is a tongue twister, ha ha!
Thank you, JayCeezy! The people I’ve met were some of the best people I’ve ever met and I have no doubt in my mind that I will love working alongside them.
I will absolutely tell the juicy details to you.
There isn’t anything I can think of that I’d do differently in my life. I married the right partner 43 years ago and she’s still my best friend, took the right job 44 years ago and stayed at that company for 38 years, bought the right house 42 years ago and we still love it. Retired six years ago and it is hard to imagine a better life. Saved and invested and we’ve got plenty of money now to do anything and everything we want. We have great grown kids and lots of volunteering and fun active hobbies. A lot of what is so good now came from decisions we made decades ago. I wouldn’t put off relationships right now to build finances or business. If you want a life partner the earlier the better, my wife was my superpower in life from the very start.
I’m not gonna lie to you. You’ve had one heck of a life that you put in the work to build. I think a lot of people do choose that path, and I agree with it. A lot of my friends married at 21 and they are just doing amazing things that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to do alone.