In your experience, what are the biggest regrets people have at the end of their careers? What do people wish they had learned sooner?

I came across this great question on Ask the Coach blog at HBP. My main take aways from the response:

• Taking Risks: People don’t regret their failures and that most people wished they had risked more.
• Work-Life Balance: Listen to your inner voice. If you think your work-life mix is out of whack it probably is.
• Learning: Smart people never got stuck in a rut; they were always trying to learn from people smarter than themselves.
• Success: Its absolutely critical to follow your own definition of success.
• Touching Lives: Most people said it was the things they gave and the people they mentored that give them satisfaction. “The money in your wallet is not the definition of your success but how many lives you touched.”

Source: http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/goldsmith/2008/06/this_weeks_question_for_ask.html