If you die with the most toys and fastest cars, have you succeeded?

Research shows that at the end of your life you will measure your success differently. In any event, dying with the fastest cars won’t get you in to heaven - and there is always someone with a faster car.

Use Jeffrey Scott's “wishes of a dying entrepreneur” as a checklist to make sure your career is giving you the life of your dreams.

1. "I wish I let myself be successful"

Business leaders try hard to bend the will of the universe to their own vision, and yet the world has its own way of working things out. You have a choice of being frustrated or being happy and successful. Aim for success, not perfection

• What could you do at work and at home to create more happiness?
• How much more could you accomplish if you aimed for "success" as your goal instead of perfection?

2. "I should have nurtured my inner circle"
Don’t work so hard that you forgo the relationships that you had built along the way. Take time out to reconnect with people who helped you get to where you are today. This is your inner circle, the friends, family and confidants who helped you along the way.

• Who do you need to reconnect with from your past? From your present?
• When is the best time of your day, week, month to do so? 

Bring joy into your life and into your friends's lives by staying in contact with them.

3. "I should have had the courage to state what's on my mind"
If you are thinking or feeling something, say it. Don't worry as much about thinking you are going to offend people. Bonnie Ware found that dying people wish they had expressed their feelings more and suppressed them less. This holds true for business leaders. Being passive-aggressive or overly sensitive won't help the other person, and it won't help you.

4. "I wish I played more, worked less"
The old expression that no one ever died wishing they worked harder is true; a practical solution is a better work/life balance that lets you take time out to enjoy the fruits of your hard labor. This comes from choice, time management skills, efficiency and priority. Just because you are working for you family, doesn’t mean your family wants you always to be working.

• What personal activities do you want to do this week for yourself? Schedule it before your schedule work.
• What family activities do you want to do this year? Put them on the schedule now, before work takes over.

In a separate study, many dying people said they wished they had spent more time barefoot. How about you?

5. "Who's life was I living?"
Most expectations are self-imposed; coming from self-talk, both positive and negative. Don't go to your death bed trying to please everyone else but yourself. The key to success is embracing your own vision and seeing it through.

• What expectations do you have for yourself that you want to fulfill this year?
• What would success look like a year from now if you followed your own compass?

6. "I should have taken more action and risks"
The biggest regret you will have on your death bed is not "what you did" but rather "what you didn't do." What idea in your brain or your heart are you holding yourself back from doing?

• List the 2 big ideas have you been carrying around in your head. Talk about them with someone you trust and make a plan to “Just Do It."

The takeaway: Sometimes you can learn more from the dying than the living.

Take action: Score yourself 0 to 10 on each of these regrets; and identify one action you can take to raise your score in each area.

Special thanks to Bronnie Ware, who wrote "The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying."

Article courtesy of Jeffrey Scott, MBA, author and consultant on growth and profit maximization in the landscape industry. 

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Smart Irrigation Month can save money and win customers
Opportunity and growth signal a need for skilled labor
Smart irrigation technologies use water efficiently
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