Question 2: Is there something that you wish you had done differently this past year? Alternatively, is there something you’re especially proud of from this past year?
We all have regrets. We just don’t all share them. The second question of this year’s 10Q project, like the second question of last year’s and the year before, deals with these regrets. Is there something that you wish you had done differently the past year? Answers often focus on family—poor treatment of a cousin, anger toward a spouse—or, barring that, friends. Sometimes the responses are more philosophical. Last year, one woman wrote that she wished she could have learned to see every negative comment as an opportunity to sympathize with the things about the world that oppress others. But you certainly don’t have to be that open-minded. Alternatively, the question can address something in the last year that made you especially proud. Studies have shown that in answering this question, pessimists outnumber optimists three to one.