Regrets, I’ve had a few . . . You might be expecting me to say there’s no room for regrets or ‘if onlys’. As it happens, they can be very useful – if you choose to use them to make a difference going forward.

There are three types of ‘I wish I’d done that’ scenarios. The first is when you genuinely feel you didn’t capitalize on an opportunity, or that you missed out on something. The second is when you see somebody who’s done something great and you wish it had been you. The final type is not you, but the others – the people who hang around with a sort of permanent ‘I could have been a contender’ mentality. If only I’d had the chances, the lucky breaks, the opportunities. For this last group, the bad news is that even if Lady Luck had come up and bitten them on the bum they’d still have missed it.

When it comes to looking at what others have achieved, this world is divided into those who look at others enviously and those who look at others as a motivational tool. If you find yourself saying, ‘I wish I had done that/thought that/been there/seen that/experienced that/met them/understood that’, then you need to learn to follow it up with a ‘And now, I will . . .’

In many cases the thing you wished you’d done might not be out of the question – even if it’s not exactly as you would have done it previously. For example, if you’re thinking ‘I wish I’d taken a year out before university and travelled to China like so and so did’, then you’re clearly not going to be able to reverse time. But could you get a sabbatical for six months and go now? Could you take a longer-than-usual holiday and go (with family if necessary)? Or how about making firm plans that when you retire you’ll put this at the top of your ‘to do’ list?

Obviously, if the regret is that you didn’t win an Olympic 400m gold medal, because you gave up athletics at 14, it’s not going to happen if you’re now 34. What you can do is resolve not to let any more opportunities pass you by. So you can choose to book those scuba diving lessons and, in doing so, ensure that you won’t be saying ‘I wish I’d learned to dive’ in another 20 years’ time.