the biggest regret of dying people

Hey there,

A nurse named Bronnie Ware worked in palliative care for years.

She spent time with people in their final weeks. And she asked them all the same question.

"What do you regret most?"

After hundreds of conversations, one answer kept coming up.

More than anything else.

The #1 Regret

It wasn't about money.

Not "I wish I'd worked less" or "I wish I'd saved more."

It wasn't about relationships either.

Not "I wish I'd spent more time with family."

The biggest regret was this:

"I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself. Not the life others expected of me."

Read that again.

They didn't regret trying things and failing.

They regretted never trying at all.

They regretted living the safe version. The version that looked good from the outside. The version everyone else wanted them to live.

And waking up at 70 or 80 realizing they never actually became who they wanted to be.

They spent their whole life being who they thought they should be.

Why This Happens

You know what you want to do.

Deep down, you know.

You know what excites you. What you're curious about. What you'd chase if you weren't scared of failing.

But you don't do it.

Not because you don't care.

But because there's always a reason to wait.

"I'll do it when I have more money."

"I'll start when the timing is better."

"Maybe next year when things calm down."

"After I finish this first."

And years go by.

And you're still waiting. Still living the safe version. Still doing what looks right.

The thing you wanted to do is still just something you think about sometimes.

What's Really Stopping You

It's not time. You have time.

It's not resources. You have enough to start.

It's fear.

Fear of failing. Fear of what people will think.

Fear of looking stupid. Fear of being judged.

So you stay safe.

You do what's expected. You follow the path that makes sense to everyone else.

And the person you could have been never gets to exist.

Your Phone Makes This Worse

Here's how.

The average person unlocks their phone 96 times a day.

Every time you do, you see what everyone else is doing.

You compare yourself. You scroll through other people's lives. You consume instead of create.

You wake up knowing what you want to do today.

Then you check your phone.

And suddenly hours are gone.

You didn't write the thing. You didn't start the project. You didn't take the step.

You scrolled instead. You watched instead. You waited instead.

This happens every single day.

The gap between who you are and who you want to be gets bigger.

The thing you want to do gets further away.

The regret you're building gets heavier.

The Real Cost

The scary part isn't wasting time.

It's wasting your one life living a version of yourself that isn't actually you.

You have ideas you never share.

Things you never start.

Risks you never take.

Not because you can't. But because you're scared.

And every day you don't do it, it gets harder to start.

The voice in your head gets louder. The fear gets bigger. The safe path looks easier.

Until one day you're looking back. And the life you wanted to live is just something you thought about.

That's the regret those dying patients had.

Not "I failed."

But "I never tried."

What Actually Works

The people who don't have this regret did something different.

They didn't wait for courage. They did it scared.

They didn't wait for permission. They gave it to themselves.

They didn't wait for the right time. They started now.

But here's what nobody tells you.

You can't do this once and be done.

You have to choose it every single day.

Every morning you wake up, you choose.

Live how you want. Or live how others expect.

And most days you forget you even have that choice.

Your phone pulls you back. Into scrolling. Into consuming. Into comparing. Into waiting.

You need to be reminded.

Not once. Constantly.

That you have one life. That time is running out. That this moment right now is yours to choose.

Why This Matters To Me

I learned this lesson early in my life.

In a way most people don't.

Soon I'll tell you the full story. It's personal. It's vulnerable. And it's the reason everything I do exists.

Why "Just One Life" became my philosophy.

Why Elevenstoic had to be built. Why I refuse to let people waste the one life they have.

For now, here's what you need to know.

We built an app that reminds you. Every time you unlock your phone.

The Elevenstoic philosophy you've been following. Now reminding you every time you pick up your phone.

That this moment matters. That you can choose differently.

It launches March 12th.

You can join the waitlist to get early access and be one of the first to try it.

Join the waitlist →

Just one life,
Richard
Founder of Elevenstoic

P.S. Almost time. 6 days.