My Biggest Regret

Happy new year everybody! Before we start afresh in this brand new year, let’s take some time to look at the regrets of our interviewees from last year, so that we don’t end up making the same mistakes they made… this year or ever.

Q: What is your biggest regret so far?

Jeshua Soh, who dropped out of school, started a business at age 19 and started another business in Myanmar:
Not following good advice.

Juliana, who made it through 4 years of topical steroid withdrawal:
Not reading more books when I had all the time in the world.

HT, who made and sells Spiderman web shooters:
Focusing too much on myself and not enough on others.

Dreaming Asa, who cosplays girl characters despite identifying as male:
Being lazy.

Wing*, who was once a Hong Kong protester:
Not planning for immigration earlier.

Rishi Israni, who married and built a million-dollar business with the inventor of the Rotimatic:
That I don’t travel enough, I don’t meet people enough. I tend to sort of live in my own world.

Elizabeth Seah, who has been cosplaying for 24 years:
Going out way too much to help those who don’t appreciate you. I’ve learned to spend those efforts on people who are humble and need it.

Marianah Arshad, who stuck by the same boss for 12 years:
Not spending more time with my late grandparents. I miss them every day.

Dr. Y, who did poorly all through school but ended up as a dentist with his own practice:
Not being able to get my father to be baptised.

Kelvin Seah, who is a stay-at-home dad:
That I did not have kids sooner.

Evelyn Eng-Lim, who built her own retirement farm:
My biggest regret is not knowing how to be intimate with my parents.

Sheeba Majmudar, who has been a nutritionist for 12 years:
I should have earned the Doctor title to have more authority in my field.

Russell Pensyl, who is an interactive media artist:
I didn’t learn about the hurdy gurdy when I was young enough to master it. Now one of my goals is to build a version of this string instrument that I can play using motors and foot pedals, freeing one hand to make more notes on the drone strings.

Loh Teck Yong, who is a security guard and author:
When I was working as a security guard, I often had to deal with abusive people. And sometimes the bullying was too hard to bear, so I would roll over instead of making a stand. I don’t have one biggest regret because I strongly regret each and every time I failed to stand up to a bully. If only my impression of Gordon Ramsay had been more polished back then.

Yen-Lu Chow, who lost his son to suicide:
I strive to live a life of no regrets—to live every day to its fullest.

Pranoti Nagarkar, who invented the Rotimatic:
I don’t have any regrets. But there are many mistakes of course, which obviously is something that teaches you a lot, so no regrets. One regret I can think of from the Zimplistic point of view, which may or may not be considered a regret, is that we should have branched out earlier and diversified our exposure by not restricting ourselves to Singapore. We should have started an office in California and moved there for a few months at least, to try and expand to Silicon Valley. Because the ecosystem of that place will always be one step ahead and you can always help bring more of that into the Singapore ecosystem.

Sy, who founded LUCK-IT and interviewed all the above people:
I don’t have any major regrets because I believe even the wrong choices were inevitable and necessary for me to grow into a better, wiser person. I do have trivial regrets though, like not buying Facebook and Apple shares when it was so obvious they were going to grow. And not noticing the potential of the internet much earlier.

Gwern Khoo, who is a Michelin Bib Gourmand certified hawker:
None. All are learning opportunities for me.

What is YOUR biggest regret? Drop your answer into the comment box below and we’ll add it to this list!

Photographs courtesy and copyright of those featured. Interviewer: Sy
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