Life is a series of experiments. And a great method for continuous learning is to review what worked each day, and what didn’t.

One method I’ve been trying is called the regret list. This is everything you did in day that you regretted in retrospect. It could be anything like what you ate for lunch, how you spent your morning, or the things you said to your colleagues. No detail is too small.

Once you have this, a simple game begins: avoid the regret list.

Some regrets are easy to deal with. Ice cream in the morning was a bad idea? Don’t buy ice cream. Answering unknown caller IDs never work out? Don’t pick up. All nighters make you feel terrible? Go to sleep.

But some regrets aren’t so simple. Feel miserable for arguing with your partner? Hate your addiction to drugs, porn or social media? Feel pathetic at your inability to focus? There’s no “just don’t do it” button. Complex problems require complex solutions.

The point of this post isn’t to solve these harder problems. I don’t have the answers myself. But the great thing about the regret list is that you can identify these flaws. You become conscious of your actions and your values. A pin is put on the map. Most activities that rob our lives are hidden behind unconscious habits.

Initially, the flaws seem too big to deal with. You could never solve that. Don’t even try. But after enough tallies in the regret list, something fun begins to occur: a shift. You look back on your list and think, wait, if I hate doing this so much, why do I keep doing it every day? and you begin to find solutions. And over time, as the problem becomes big enough to warrant action, an antidote emerges.

Life is far too short for continual regrets. Blunders and monstrosities will occur time to time, sure. We’re human. But to let these carry on, undisciplined, is to me a terrible shame. The pain that comes from dealing with problems pale in comparison to the pain that the problems will cause.

If this resonates with you, I invite you to give it a try. It’s a simple exercise that takes less than five minutes each day. And I hope that with reflective action, your life improves to new bounds, as has mine.