To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice.

A life you can look back on without flinching pays out a second time in memory. That is not an argument for arranging things to look good later; it is a reminder that the person doing the remembering is you, and you are the hardest audience to fool. What plays well now and sits badly afterwards is a poor trade.

When a decision is close, ask which version you would rather have on the shelf in ten years. It is a clarifying question for small choices too. Most regrets are assembled out of ordinary weeks.