Summary: Having the discipline to do what you have to do even when you aren't in the mood will help minimize your regrets. But since experience only comes after you need it, you will inevitably regret certain decisions you've made in the past, wishing you could do things over. It's important not to get bogged down and to keep moving forward.

Body:

I had to travel for work this week, which meant that I would be spending new years eve alone. Instead of going out, I used the opportunity to sit and reflect on the past year, on the decisions I have made both consciously and passively.

While I would say that overall I had a good year, my thoughts started to drift to things I should have done differently:

"I should have studied harder to get better grades."

"I should have asked for a promotion."

"I should have taken my lifting and nutrition more seriously."

"I should have talked to her."

"I should have worn a condom."

"I should have saved more money."

"I should have gone out tonight instead of making myself miserable with regret."

Of course, knowing what we do now, we all would do things differently if we could. No matter how red pill you are, no matter how much pussy you get, no matter how far along you are in your life's mission - you can always be better. You have to be better. It's part of being a man.

Yet, all this said and done, you cannot despair about what you haven't accomplished. My brother called me up this morning and told me that he already fucked up his new years resolution about not sleeping in. I told him that yes, you should be upset when you mess up, but you also need to move on to prevent a downward spiral into depression and a stagnation of growth. Who cares if it doesn't count as a fulfilled new years resolution?

Suppose you've committed to do Stronglifts and you missed a week because you're a lazy son of a bitch who has no discipline - that doesn't mean you should quit, say "well, I fucked up. Looks like my work is done." Stronglifts is hard. That's not an excuse, but it's a reality you need to accept and deal with, so if you fall off the horse you have to get your ass right back on.

It's hard to be introspective, so I'll provide an example from my own life that you can judge objectively. I'm a great student, but my grades from this past semester turned out to be bad enough that I probably won't get into the graduate program that I'm aiming for. So should I drop out, then? Should I just quit? Obviously not.

Yes, the above example isn't directly related to sexual strategy, but I think you understand what I am getting at. Maybe you won't ever get to experience being the big man at a frat party because you found TRP too late, but that doesn't mean you have to give up. That doesn't mean there's no point in bettering yourself.

Lessons learned: Occasionally there's a post here expressing regret for the wasted, pre-RP years that most of us experienced before we found TRP. Were those years wasted? Absolutely. No one who takes this subreddit seriously is going to pat you on the back and tell you that those weren't wasted years. What they will do is help get you on your feet and orient you in the right direction so you can move on. There are some great stories that have been posted here about men from all sorts of backgrounds who have succeeded against all odds, even after failing again and again. There's no reason you can't be one of those men.

Happy new years to everyone, onward and forward to great things.