How to Let Go of Regrets

You know the moment. It happens right after you realize you did something you wish you didn’t. Maybe you broke someone’s trust and now the guilt is overwhelming you. Maybe you compromised your job in some way and now you’re terrified your world will come crashing down.

Regardless of what you did, you can feel your anxiety like a stack of red hot bowling balls surgically implanted in your stomach. When you think one of two things:

• I did something I shouldn’t have and I might not be able to fix it.
• I did something I shouldn’t have so I’m going to lose something important.

Both of those things might be true. In fact, they often are. Actions do have consequences. We do lose things—all through life. Nothing is permanent, not even the most secure relationship. But none of this has to be catastrophic.

How to Make the Right Decision

The landscape of our brain is not a rational place.

We still walk around with the same Stone Age brain our ancestors had – a mess of emotions, imperfect memories, and a short attention span. To top it off, it never has all the facts to make the “perfect” decision.

From here the story gets worse. We even make decisions without being conscious of having done so.

When neuroscientists examined brain activity during a simple decision-making experiment, they noticed people had often decided on a course of action 10 seconds before they were consciously aware of having made any decision at all. How can we ever hope to make the right decision? In reality things aren’t so bad, we make decisions all day, everyday. The world keeps turning and we feel like we are in control.

The good news is that the field of neuroscience has made us well aware of the shortcomings of the human brain. By knowing these weaknesses, we can then use a simple strategy to work around them.

How to Persuade People

Convincing people that your way is the best way is often very difficult but is possible.

1. Timing is everything.

Knowing how to persuade people correctly largely depends on the right time to talk to them. Approach people when they are more relaxed and you will achieve far better results.

2. Smile.

Be polite, cheerful, and charismatic. A good attitude will help you more than you think. People will hear what you have to say without thinking that you want to force your point of view on them.