Things you wished you would have done when you were younger.....

This list could easily take all day to compile but a couple of things for sure:
1. been less of a little prick to my mom when a teen. Having kids now I know how hard it is to raise kids especially when they don't cooperate;
2. been less self-absorbed.

 

Lifted weights when I was in high school. Never got a chance to play sports because I was too skinny, not strong enough. I get asked occasionally if I played football at UNC. No, I explain, I weighed about 150 back then, not the 215 I weigh now.

 

I had little self-discipline in high school. I wish I had been disciplined enough to have been a good student and a better athlete. I decided to work harder in college and my GPA has a half a point better and I graduated with honors. My not doing much in high school still closed some doors to me I wish I had left open.

 

I think being self-absorbed is fairly common with teenagers and younger. I wish I had asked more questions about my family history when my parents and grandparents were alive. We've been going through some old photos lately and it reminded me just how little I know about previous generations of my family.

 

It would have been nice to realize a bit sooner that drinking is a poor substitute for actually feeling and dealing with stuff.

 

Spot on, this. I was a terrible student - if I had a buck for every time I was told I could accomplish so much more if only I applied myself - and I knew college or university would have been a complete waste of time so I went to work in various low-paying laboring jobs after that. Lost my job in 1991, spent a year fruitlessly looking for one and ended up going to college at 27. I busted my ass - applying myself! - studying and graduated with honours.

Things have worked out pretty well but I occasionally wonder what would have happened of I had been more dedicated as a teenager.

 

I just thought of another mistake I made that I saved my son from making. After busting my ass in college and making honor roll I got cocky and took my grad school exams with no preparation. It turns out the GMAT quantitative questions consisted of a lot of geometry, which I had paid little attention to in the ninth grade. I bombed it. I think if I had studied for my graduate admission exam I would have done much better and gotten into a better grad school.

So when my son was a junior in high school and had a 4+ GPA I dragged him to Stanley Kaplan for SAT prep. Basically they made him take the SAT exam seven times. His scores went up 50 points an exam and he went from 1,650 to 2,000 on his SAT and he did get into a better school. I don't how much getting into a better school helped but he is 26, never had a problem finding jobs and and is kicking ass. I think the $700 and the emotional effort I made in dragging him to the classes was well worth it. Your college boards are about as important as your grades and it is dumb to kill yourself for a higher GPA for four years and them give it back with a sub par board score.

 

Hey chin up; you're only 35, there's a whole lot of life out there in front of you. My buddy had a family and still went back to Nursing school at 40 and found his true calling.

Your background is a tremendous selling point with others if you just use it; be proud of it. That doesn't mean you can't do those things now. (Still I'd encourage you to make good life choices without endangering yourself or others; say don't do crank or heroin.)

 

2 words.
Phoenix Open.

 

I wish I had traveled and seen the world more; Asia, Europe, Down Under (I did drive cross-country one summer at a leisurely pace with my buddy, which was fantastic).

When I was in college, interviewed for an unpaid summer internship with the A's (best interview ever, sat behind home plate in the sun with no one else in the ballpark). Thought I could do that and still work at night. They said it was an all day gig, no chance for outside work. Time of Roy Eisenhardt and Sandy Alderson (but just before Bash Brothers). Even though it was not he Giants, would have had a foot in the door with MLB. Turned it down. Next candidate came back with A's jacket and stories that Fall.

When I was in law school, buddy was a tennis instructor and had a gig in the Fiji Islands and asked me to join him for a year. Turned it down; that's one I wish I had pursued.

 

I wish I had not quit the basketball team senior year of high school. Other than that, I have few regrets from my younger years. Now my 30s....

 

It's about finding balance. I was probably too dedicated to academic success and trying to be the good guy all the time.