A. I took too many risks.
B. I threw away a great opportunity
C. I made a mistake with money.
D. I shouldn’t have gone on holiday.
E. I upset a good friend.
F. I lost my job.
G. I didn’t work hard enough.
H. I became successful much later than I thought.

One
My aunt died last year, and I was very surprised that she had left me something in her will. Iknow I should have saved it, but I didn’t. I blew it. I resigned from work and took my friends outto dinner and on holidays. They thought I was mad but didn’t complain. Well, a year later, it hadall gone. Now I wish I’d acted differently because one day I might want to buy a house or start abusiness and it could have been very useful.

Two
I had always been good at school, top of the class, without really having to try. I thought I couldpass A levels with the same attitude. It didn’t work out. You are treated more like an adult, givena lot of responsibility for your own studying. There’s a lot of background reading to do and noone checks to see if you have done it. I was shocked when I got my results and I didn’t get intothe university I wanted. I still got a good job, though.

Three
I’ve always been an outdoor type of person. I’ve bungee jumped and gone white water rafting. Iwas always very careful about safety. Then, one time I went on holiday with a few friends andgot too confident. I didn’t check the equipment, didn’t tell anyone where I was, broke all therules and spent three months in hospital as a result. Luckily, I recovered, but I’m much morecareful now.

Four
When I went to university, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I studied art and decided to sellmy work at galleries. My friend who studied marketing was going to help. In the end, she got abetter offer and I had to do everything alone. I’m not great at business, and I don’t know how I survived during my twenties and thirties. Luckily, I was discovered at the grand old age of fortysix, and now I’ve got my own gallery.

Five
I was working as a waiter to get a bit of money. At the same time, I was going to college in themornings so I wasn’t getting much sleep. I found it more and more difficult to concentrate and itwas no surprise when the boss told me that I would have to improve or he would have to get ridof me. Well, I didn’t and he did but I did well at college and got an excellent job in computing.

Six
Jerry and I have been friends since we were kids. He became a milkman, and I worked in afactory. After a few years, I got promoted to supervisor and he got sacked and started working in the factory. The problem was, he wasn’t very good at his job and I had to talk to him about it. He didn’t like that at all, told me I’d changed and should be nicer to him. In the end he left, butwe’re friends again now and laugh about it.

Seven
After school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Then, one day, a friend told me about an ideashe’d had. It meant that we would have to borrow a lot of money and we’d be in debt for a few years and I didn’t want to take that risk. She found another partner and, a few years later, their business really took off. Now I’m earning £350 a week, and she’s worth about £2 million. Ioften wonder what my life would be like if I’d taken that risk.