If I could go back in time I'd learn rizz-ilience so I wouldn't get so heartbroken

Hindsight's a crazy thing. We’ve all got those moments we wish we could avoid by going back in time and using the
knowledge we have now. So, we asked our team “If you could go back in time, what would you learn, so you could avoid ____.”

Gwynney: If I could go back I'd learn rizz-ilience so that when the girl whose house I left flowers at laughed at them on their story I wouldn't have been so heartbroken 💔.

So there was this girl I was into in high school who was a friend of a friend and I decided that I’d buy her roses for Valentine’s Day and leave them at her door. I fully wrote her a secret admirer card as well. Anyway, I was on my L’s so mum had to accompany me while I drove there (oh my days). So, I left it at her door with high hopes (not sure why since I was a secret admirer?), then 2 hours later I check her snapchat story and she put it on her story with "😂😂😂" as the caption. Really wished I had a bit more rizz-ilience to bounce back from that, because I've obviously never gotten over it and still think about this complete and utter failure to this day.

Jules: If I could go back in time I’d learn that teams switch sides in basketball before I shot an own goal in front of the whole school.

In Year 12 I was playing a game of basketball in front of pretty much the entire school and after half time, we swapped sides but I didn’t realise. So, I confidently scored an own basket (it was a swish too) but instead of a cheer I got laughed at majorly. It just goes to show how important adaptability is, even if it’s just changing sides halfway through a basketball game.

James: If I could go back in time I’d learn how to answer job interview questions before my hot streak of missing out on jobs

When I finished uni I was looking for internships, and I assumed I’d be able to answer interview questions on the fly - but when they asked me simple questions like ‘what’s an example of a time you used leadership in your job’, I was totally stumped. After all, I’d only worked as a shift manager in a sleepy RSL club - not much explicit leadership to be seen there. I totally flubbed the interview, and while it was probably for the best, it taught me a valuable lesson about communicating and about skills in general. If I could go back, I’d practice my interview responses using something like the STAR method, and remember that I don’t need ‘work experience’ to show skills like leadership or problem solving - you can use examples from your personal life too!

Indi: If I could go back in time I would've been more creative when I was younger before I became a 21-year-old who paints like I’m 5.

I would love to go back to when I was younger and spend more time being creative than I did. Whether that was learning more instruments, painting or writing more often, I would love to have grown up with these skills because starting them from scratch feels super intimidating.

Lil: If I could go back in time I would learn how to negotiate before I wasted 100s of dollars on fuel dropping someone else’s kids to school.

When I was doing side hustles as a teen (like babysitting), I definitely got taken advantage of because I didn't know how to negotiate and I was worried about losing opportunities. One example that comes to mind was a family I nannied for who convinced me to use my own car and petrol for only $15 more per week because they didn't want to insure me. I spent 10+ hours per week in the car doing school pickups, sport dropoffs etc, so I must have wasted so much on fuel.

Lochie: I wish I was better at asking for help before I broke an old woman’s pool system after thinking I could fix it.

I used to work at a pool shop and we had a regular customer who was having problems with her pool filter. She was elderly so I offered to just pop round after my shift instead of making her pay for a full service. But when I got there I realised the job was too advanced for me, but instead of asking for help from one of the more experienced technicians, I gave it a go myself. Long story short, her pipes burst everywhere and the water wouldn’t stop spraying all over her backyard. I said I could stay for a while and fix the problem and she said "I think you’ve done enough" 😭.

So that’s how we could have avoided some of our biggest mistakes, if only we’d had that one skill we needed. Check out some of our other articles to get skilled up for your personal life and your work life, so you don’t have to make the same mistakes we did.