Go to the bank?  Call 9-11?  Tell your spouse or friend goodbye?

Those who have come close to losing their lives are changed forever when they get a second chance.

An Australian hospice nurse polled people in the last 12 weeks of their life and asked them to tell their top regrets.

Here they are:

• Wishing they hadn’t worked so hard and missed their children growing up or spending quality time with their partner.
• That they would have had the courage to express their feelings.
• Wishing they had stayed in touch with their friends.

Another key wish was “I wish I had let myself be happier”.

Why wait until the time is up to do these four critical things.

Not money.

Not power.

Not fame is more important than the best use of time in loving and enjoying the people who matter most around us.

We can do this.

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Self-doubt is that quiet little voice that pops up in our ears to make us question whether we can succeed.

I once addressed the Country Radio seminar in Nashville to speak on the topic of music radio.

But what I didn’t know is that the Governor of Tennessee was to introduce the late Dick Clark to talk about television, music and American Bandstand.

And the likeable Clark showed up with video, stories and funny lines.

I am a professional and have no shortage of confidence (usually but not always) and I would lying if I didn’t share with you that little voice of self-doubt that said, “Are you sure you should be speaking here?”.

I was backstage and walked out into the meeting room to watch the master at work and when it came close to my introduction – that, by the way, was done by Dick Clark – I said to myself – “You were asked to speak because you are knowledgeable about radio”.

Then, when I stood at the podium looking out onto about 800 happy faces who enjoyed my predecessor, I fell silent for about 15 seconds, gathered in the room and said to myself “I’ve got this”.

The two things to erase self doubt, then, is to focus on the fact that you have earned the right to be doing whatever it is you are doing and the verbal affirmation is – “I’ve got this”.

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In the sports world, this is the time of year for coaches to be fired.  You know the drill – coaches are hired to be fired.

Most of us if we’re honest with ourselves harbor a fear or at least deep concern of what will happen if we lose our jobs.  After all, most people who are happy in their work, identify themselves with their careers.  Our self-esteem is attached to our work.

Great people have been fired only to go on and return to greatness.

Those who had their careers interrupted – fairly or unfairly by employers – almost always go on to succeed in spite of that bump in the road.

Losing income is a real concern but the elephant in the room is losing self-esteem.

Not too long ago a morning radio personality who had worked on the same station waking up local audiences for 36 years was unceremoniously fired.  Imagine the hurt.  Not being able to say goodbye.  Disappearing without notice.  One day you’re on top, the next day you’re not.  And to add insult to injury, he was escorted out of the station with his personal effects in a box.

Yes, we fear not having enough money to live.

But we also worry about the loss of self-esteem that comes when we’re suddenly not needed and left without an immediate future.

There is no cure for this kind of life’s disruption.

But there is a powerful thought to get through it – everyone rises again to achieve success and fulfillment.  Ironically, it is the adversity of being fired that fuels the rebound to success.

Fearing being fired is as psychologically damaging as actually being fired so it is more productive to work hard with the confidence that even a disruption in your career path will only make you stronger.

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If you’re like most people, you don’t have to blame yourself when things go wrong.  There is no shortage of people who will be glad to do this for us.

But blame is a dangerous game.

It does not have a positive outcome.

Dale Carnegie famously started his human relations rules with “don’t criticize, condemn or complain”.  If we could do only these three things in life, we would be so much happier.

But accepting the blame of others must be stopped and we’re the only ones who can stop it.

It isn’t their right to do it and it’s not our obligation to accept blame.

The number one way to run down self-esteem is to be the target of blaming comments – often emotional — from others.

A trick that I use is to think of my ears attached to my brain as a digital recorder.

When blame is leveled, I re-record over the blaming statements as soon as I can.

Example of a blaming statement:

“If only you would have listened to me, blah-blah-blah”  (you know the drill).

My –re-recording:

“I always make an attempt to listen to others”.

The brain is the most powerful ally we have to prevent the dysfunction of others from being destructive toward us.

One more thing.

Not being willing to be the target of blame does not mean that we cannot be better, but as Dale Carnegie said criticism never, ever works.

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Stubborn people usually have the inability to hear the voices and ideas of others.

They fixate on their plan or preferences and don’t budge no matter what.

Determined people can listen to others but they have a knack for listening to themselves.

We insult others when we say they are stubborn but we praise them when we say they are determined.

A determined person knows that they are always in charge of their future actions.

A stubborn person is insecure about their ability to stay the course, which is why they will not entertain other points of view.  In a way, that’s threatening.

Stubborn = headstrong

Determined = the best route to success with input from others.

The confidence to seek out the thoughts of others is representative of the same confidence necessary to see your plans through to a successful outcome

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Can you change where you were born?

Or who your parents were?

Could you have changed the outcome of losing your job in a budget cut?

Or the fact that the doctor tells you that you have developed diabetes?

Or that your best friend moved 1,000 miles away?

Put like this, it is obvious that we waste a lot of time and emotion trying to change things that can never be changed.

That realization is the first step toward redeploying our energies to things that we can change.

Emphasizing the good things our parents gave us and letting go of the things we don’t want.

Finding a better job that brings us more fulfillment and hopefully compensation.

Taking care to be healthy and minimizing diseases we may have developed.

Finding innovative ways to keep long distance relationships alive.

We change things that cannot be changed by accepting that a better use of our energies is to change that which we can change.

How you see it makes all the difference.

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When people reject us – for any reason  — they have discovered how vulnerable we are.

Somewhere in time we have assigned a part of our self-esteem to them.  In fact, they may have stolen it from us.  The person who on their own told us how good we look can also take it away if and when they realize that we need them to keep telling us.

Strong self-esteem comes from being okay with the way we are – liking it, accepting it, being proud of it.  That is the way to reduce the possibility of being rejected.

In fact, even compliments can be a setup for future rejection if we ourselves do not believe the compliment.  So when you hear something nice or something kind, you should use that comment as a reaffirmation of something you already believe.

It is virtually impossible to reject someone who is happy with the way they are and who never lets another person provide self-esteem that we ourselves do not already possess.

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When someone is bullied, they put an end to it by pushing back.

But the bully has still inflicted their damage even if it is stopped.

The victim needs to do one important thing to guarantee that the bully of the day is not hitting and running.

And that is to have compassion for the bully-shamer.

Sounds like something a victim is in no mood to do but it is so very important.

When we have compassion for the person inflicting the hurt, we assure that we will never have to be that person to pushback.

“I feel sorry for her for having to hurt her best friends when all they want to do is like her”.

Or, “It must be awful to be so hurtful to others”.

Or, “Using social media to shame me is so cowardly.  I feel sorry for someone who needs to hurt someone behind their back”.

To be sure, compassion for the offender is not condoning.

Just that one act of compassion nullifies the hurt that shamers and bulliers like to impart on others.

Push back by putting a stop loss on the hurtful behavior and feel compassion for the instigator because by doing so you are also showing compassion for yourself.

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We know what turns people off – or at least we should.

But what makes them attracted to us like a magnet is our ability to praise others in a sincere way.

Think about how long we have to go before we hear words of praise from others.

The secret is to catch someone doing something praiseworthy – and that’s not too hard if you get used to looking for it.

Then back up the kind words with a concrete example of what you like about them.  Without the evidence, it’s just empty praise that sounds good but doesn’t stick to the bones.

If you want people to be totally addicted to you in a positive way, look for opportunities to catch them doing something right.

Then increase the number of times you give sincere and honest praise and it is likely you will feel the warmth and sincerity returned to you.

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During the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament this year we found out how far perfection can get us.

Unbeaten Kentucky lost to Wisconsin and they were eliminated from the big dance to play for the championship.   The 2006-2007 Patriots won all 16 of their regular season games but could not go 19-0 to win the Super Bowl.

Most of us have it all wrong.

We either try for perfection or accept that we cannot ever achieve perfection.

When two teams play sports, they don’t show up and say I’m going to win or else and they don’t say I’ll probably lose.

They want to play to win but know that always winning is not always possible and it’s not necessary.

And there is a lot to learn from losing – more than from winning – such as how badly you want something, how hard you will work to get it and what skills must be acquired to succeed.

Perfection is the roadmap not the final destination.

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