The Regret You’ll Feel at 68 Starts With What You Ignore at 55

Regret Is a Signal. Pay Attention.

Most men over 50 carry regret. Not because they failed—but because they waited. They postponed the hard decisions. They convinced themselves there would be more time.

Regret doesn’t show up loud. It comes in quiet moments. When you see a photo and realize you’ve aged without growing. When you feel your energy slipping and know it didn’t have to. When you catch yourself saying, “I used to…”

It’s not weakness. It’s a signal.

It means something still matters. That you haven’t given up. That there’s time left, but not enough to waste.

Regret isn’t something to fear—it’s something to use.

Listen to it. Let it guide you. And then do something about it.

You Took Inventory. Now Comes the Test.

The Turning Pro Matrix gave you a standard. Eighteen points across identity, health, and execution—each one showing where you’ve built strength or let things slide.

Some of you took the Harder to Kill Assessment. You now know the numbers. That’s good. You’ve moved from guessing to knowing. From vague to specific.

If you didn’t take it, you know why. Not because you forgot—but because you hesitated. You felt the edge of discomfort and pulled back.

That’s exactly where most men live—right on the edge of what they know they need to face.

This is your second chance. Take it now. Here’s the link. It’s not complicated. It’s not time-consuming. It just requires honesty.

What you do next matters. You can gather data and take responsibility—or you can keep drifting and let time make the decision for you.

No one’s coming to force your hand. It’s on you.

The Decision Point: Knowing vs. Acting

There’s a moment every man hits when things become unavoidably clear.

It doesn’t always come with a crisis or collapse. It happens quietly—when you're alone with your thoughts, when a number on a scale catches your eye, when you feel your energy drop mid-morning and know it’s not how things used to be. You see the issue. You know what needs to change.

And then you hesitate.

That hesitation is where regret begins. Not from failure, but from standing still when you knew better.

Daniel Pink spent years researching regret, gathering over 21,000 submissions from people across more than 100 countries. What he found wasn’t complicated. The regrets that sting the longest, and cut the deepest, don’t come from what people tried and failed to do. They come from what they never attempted. What they avoided. What they allowed to fade.

He categorized those regrets into four types:

• Foundation: Letting health slip. Ignoring finances. Undermining your own base.

• Boldness: Playing it safe. Not betting on yourself. Letting risk pass in favor of comfort.

• Moral: Staying silent. Making the convenient choice over the right one.

• Connection: Withdrawing. Letting relationships break or drift when you could’ve repaired them.

At the core of each is the same thing: inaction. A man saw the path and didn’t take it.

That’s the difference between regret and shame—and it matters.

Regret says: I made a choice. I can make a better one next time.
Shame says: I am the mistake. There is no next time.

Regret acknowledges failure without being defined by it. Shame builds a prison and hands you the key.

Pink draws a hard line here:

• Regret is tied to action—or the lack of it.

• Shame attacks identity—your worth, your capability, your character.

If you regret not stepping up, not speaking up, not showing up—that’s useful. That’s fuel.
But if you’ve internalized it as a verdict on who you are, you’ve already lost.

Regret can move you. Shame keeps you stuck.
Know the difference. Use the right one.

Most men—especially over 50—have regrets they carry in silence. The time they didn’t step up. The habits they didn’t break. The discipline they didn’t enforce when it mattered.

You’ve got some of those moments. So do I. That’s not the problem.

The problem is what happens next. Whether you use those regrets as a reason to move—or keep them buried and pretend they don’t matter.

Pink makes it clear: regret is useful. It shows you what still matters. It tells you where your unfinished business is.

If you’ve got something gnawing at you—something you know needs to be addressed—pay attention. That discomfort is a signal. And the worst thing you can do with it is wait.

You don’t need more time. You don’t need more input. You need a decision.

Because regret doesn’t fade. It accumulates. Slowly. Quietly. Until you no longer have time to do anything about it.

Start Small. But Start.

You don’t need to fix everything today.

That kind of thinking is what keeps most men paralyzed—waiting for the right time, the full plan, the clean slate that never comes. You don’t need a perfect plan. You need movement.

Pick one starting line and cross it.

• Take the Harder to Kill Assessment. Get a read on where you stand.

• Schedule an InBody scan. Know your numbers. Stop guessing.

• Write down your Alpha 5—the five daily standards that keep you steady. Follow them for one week.

• Define your Future Self. One paragraph. Make it clear, not clever.

• Pick a physical target: 15% body fat. 10,000 steps a day. 40g of protein within 30 minutes of waking. One win. One standard.

• Set a 30-day test date. Mark it. Commit to it.

These aren’t theoretical. They’re not ceremonial. Each one is a simple act of responsibility.

Most men never move because they wait for someone else to create the urgency. That’s weak. The urgency is already here—you’re just pretending you don’t see it.

Small actions done consistently are the only way out. You don’t need intensity. You need integrity.

And if you’ve read this far, you already know what you need to do. The only question left is whether you’ll do it.

Why Most Men Quit: The Cycle You Didn’t See Coming

Starting is hard. But sticking with it is harder—especially once the novelty wears off.

You begin with a surge of energy. A sense that this time will be different. The plan is clean, the gear is bought, the path is laid out. You’re fired up.

Then—two weeks in—it hits you: this isn’t exciting anymore.

You feel the drag. The food prep. The early wake-ups. The training sessions you don’t feel like doing. And suddenly you’re in your own head, whispering the line that kills progress in men everywhere:

Let’s call that what it is: a symptom of weakness.

It’s not boring. You’re just not strong enough—yet.

Strong men don’t need constant stimulation. They don’t chase novelty. They don’t confuse discomfort with dysfunction. They know the difference between a hard season and a broken system.

If you're bored, you're stuck. Not in the plan—in your mindset.

You’ve been tricked into thinking life should feel like a highlight reel. That discipline should be “inspiring.” That discomfort means something’s off. But if the work is honest, there will be long stretches that are monotonous, inconvenient, and unsexy.

That’s not a problem. That’s the price.

But here’s what separates men who transform from those who don’t: they reframe it.

“Boring” is a judgment from your current self—still addicted to stimulation, still looking for shortcuts.

Your Future Self doesn’t think that way.

He doesn’t complain when things get repetitive. He doesn’t need novelty to stay engaged. He lives by standards, not moods. And the actions that feel dull to your current self? Those are just how he lives.

The men inside Argent Alpha who succeed don’t muscle through boredom. They outgrow it.

They stop needing everything to feel new. They build identity through consistency. They shift from “trying something” to becoming someone.

That’s how you make it through the Emotional Cycle of Change:

1. Uninformed Optimism – It’s new. You’re hopeful. And blind.

2. Informed Pessimism – The cost shows up. You feel resistance.

3. Valley of Despair – Everything in you wants to quit. This is the proving ground.

4. Informed Optimism – You push through. Progress begins to show.

5. Success & Integration – The work becomes who you are. It’s not discipline anymore—it’s identity.

Most men tap out in Stage 3 and blame the process. But quitting because it’s “not exciting” is just another excuse to stay small.

That moment—when boredom creeps in—isn’t a flaw in the system. It’s the doorway to strength.

When it shows up, don’t flinch. Return to your Alpha 5. Revisit your Future Self. Adjust the process—but not the standard.

You’re not here to be entertained. You’re here to evolve.

Climbing Out of the Valley: Progress Is Subtle—Until It Isn’t

If you didn’t tap out in the valley, you’ve already separated yourself from most men.

You kept showing up. You got quiet, got focused, and pushed through the drag. You started making decisions based on who you want to become—not how you feel in the moment.

That shift matters.

The signs are subtle at first:

• You don’t miss workouts.

• You stop negotiating with your excuses.

• You go to bed early without needing to justify it.

• You say “no” to things that once owned you.

This is what Informed Optimism feels like. You’re no longer guessing. You’re seeing results. Your discipline is paying dividends—in your body, in your mind, in your confidence.

But here’s the risk:
This new ground can fool you.

You start to think you’ve made it. You ease up. The urgency fades. You stop tracking, stop reflecting, stop leading yourself the way you were just a few weeks ago.

And the drift returns.

Not loud. Not dramatic. Just subtle. But it always starts small.

Progress is not a finish line—it’s a responsibility. When you hit your stride, that’s not the moment to relax. That’s the moment to lock it in.

Men who make long-term change don’t just survive the valley—they build on it. They treat momentum like fire: useful when fed, dangerous when ignored.

If you’re here—out of the valley, past the flinch, and back in motion—double down.

This is where most men let up.
The danger isn’t failure—it’s false progress.

Tighten the basics:

• Lock in your sleep, movement, nutrition, mindset, hydration.

• Track what you’re doing—not what you think you’re doing.

• Revisit the man you’re becoming. Would he be proud of today?

Then raise your standards again.

This isn’t about a 30-day sprint.
It’s about building a way of life that leaves no room for regret.

Don’t Carry Regret—Weaponize It

Every man has regrets. Missed chances. Delayed decisions. Times you didn’t speak up, didn’t step up, didn’t show up.

You’ve already lived the cost of inaction.

• The business you didn’t start.

• The call you didn’t return.

• The boundary you didn’t hold.

• The hard conversation you avoided.

• The relationship with your wife or kids you didn’t nurture.

• The years you coasted, thinking there’d always be more time.

Let’s stop pretending those don’t matter.
They do. But they don’t define you—unless you let them.

The power of regret is in how you respond to it. You can carry it around like a weight… or you can sharpen it into a blade.

The man you want to become? He doesn’t avoid regret—he confronts it.

He uses it.

Regret becomes his reminder: to act now, to speak truth, to invest in what matters, to walk away from what doesn’t.
Not someday. Now.

The point isn’t to wallow in the past—it’s to refuse to repeat it.

If you’re still alive, there’s still time. But not as much as you think. The second half of your life won’t be built on potential. It’ll be built on what you’re willing to face—and what you’re willing to do about it.

Look back—but don’t stare. Take the lesson, then get to work.

Get in the Arena: Roosevelt Was Right

Teddy Roosevelt didn’t write The Man in the Arena speech to be poetic. He wrote it to wake men up.

He saw what was happening to the country.
Comfort was becoming a virtue.
Cynicism was becoming sport.
And real men—men who built things, risked things, bled for things—were being mocked by those who stood safely on the sidelines.

So he drew a line.

Not the man who points out how others fall short.
Not the man who scoffs from a distance.
Not the man who lives in comfort, then claims wisdom from the bleachers.

The credit belongs to the man in the arena.

The one who shows up. Who fights through dust, sweat, and blood.
Who falls short again and again—but keeps standing back up.
Because his goal isn’t applause. It’s progress.

That mindset built nations.
And most men today would rather meme it than live it.

You’ve got men dissecting others' workouts, criticizing plans they’ve never followed, laughing at discipline they’ve never practiced—all while their own health, marriage, and purpose slowly decay.

Roosevelt would’ve called it cowardice.
And he’d be right.

This is your moment to decide where you stand.

You in the arena?
Or are you still in the stands, waiting for perfect timing, hoping comfort will carry you across the finish line?

It won’t.

This phase of life—the second half—isn’t for spectators. It’s for men who know the clock is ticking and still choose to get up and move forward.

You won’t be perfect. You’ll catch punches. You’ll lose rounds.
But you’ll grow. You’ll harden. You’ll earn the respect of the only man who matters—the one you see in the mirror.

Start there.

Then take action:

• Book your InBody scan.

• Pick your non-negotiables for the week.

• Set a time to revisit your Future Self.

• Cut one excuse from your life—today.

Don’t wait for the motivation to show up.
Get in the arena, and let action create the momentum.

What Will You Regret If You Don’t Take Action?

You’ve made it this far.
You didn’t skim. You didn’t scroll past.
You’re still here because part of you knows:
There’s something you’ve been avoiding. And the clock isn’t slowing down.

So let’s get direct.

If nothing changes—what will you regret most?

Not in a general sense.
Specifically. Tangibly.

• The strength you could’ve built—but didn’t.

• The inflammation you tolerated for years—until it wrecked your energy.

• The choice to eat, drink and be merry and stay fat, weak and on meds.

• The mornings you slept in instead of training—and lost a step you’ll never get back.

• The example you promised your kids or grandkids you’d set—but didn’t.

That’s what you risk.

Regret isn’t about the past. It’s a preview of the future—if you don’t take action.

So here’s your next step:

Take the Harder To Kill Assessment.

It’s not just a tool—it’s a warning system.
It shows you exactly where regret is waiting to strike.

Every low score is a blind spot.
Every gap is a path you’ll wish you’d taken—unless you act now.

This is your shot to turn regret into action.
To face the truth without flinching.
And to get back on course before the damage is permanent.

Not tomorrow.
Now.

You’ve read enough.
Make your move.

Coming Mid/Late July

Harder to Kill: How to Stay Healthy, Strong, and Unstoppable After 50

This book isn’t about wellness trends or slowing decline. It’s about building the kind of strength, clarity, and grit that makes men over 50 dangerous again.

What we’ve built inside Argent Alpha is already changing lives. This book is how we take that movement wider—to help men reclaim their edge and redefine what it means to be 50+.

Publishing mid to late July. More details coming soon.