The Mark Cuban Test: Will You Have Regrets Or Not

Recently, Angelo apprised me of a Mark Cuban blog post in which he says his way of testing the worthiness of his pursuits is to ask himself when he turns 90 if he has any regrets about doing, or not doing, something. 

For me, regret isn't just about what I do, but how I do it. One temptation many of us have with the gift of gab (and I consider myself one of them), is that we become lost in our B.S. People believe in our B.S. We believe it. We boast with pride over our ability to B.S. so well. We think we're clever and entertaining. 

But as I grow through life's natural growing pains, I see that regret comes from losing oneself through too much B.S. To minimize my regrets in life, I'd like to become less of a B.S. artist. I'm reminded of a terse book I enjoyed a few years ago, On Bullshit, by Harry G. Frankfurt. 

One of Franfurt's most compelling points is that the B.S. artist is in many ways more pernicious than the liar because the liar knows there's truth. Not so with the BSer. For the latter, there is no truth or untruth. Everything is just B.S. And that's nihilism. 

Comments

[Tom Welch]

I agree with most of Cuban's comments, however, I live at http://www.azfs.org, an independent living campus and what I have noticed is that most older folks spend too much time looking back rather than looking forward.

Spending time looking back is unproductive behavior. You can't change history.

[Angelo]

I also think Cuban is one of those people who regret what they DIDN'T do more than they regret what they did. I think very wealthy people who are self made generally share that trait. They seem to have a gene that overrides the fear of failure, so they are willing to take risks and are in some ways, less cautious than an average person. That's why they would regret NOT doing something.