If you don’t want regrets at age 60, psychologists say to avoid these 7 daily habits now

Regret doesn’t usually shout. It whispers. It shows up in quiet questions like What if I had just tried? or Why did I wait so long to say something?

Talk to people in their 60s or beyond, and you’ll often hear a similar pattern — not just about the big, dramatic life decisions, but about the small, daily habits that quietly shaped their years.

Psychologists studying long-term life satisfaction often point to one surprising insight: many of our biggest regrets stem not from failure, but from inaction — the choices we didn’t make, the growth we put off, the relationships we let drift.

And the seeds of those regrets are often planted in the tiny rituals and routines we repeat without even noticing.

Below are 7 daily habits that may feel harmless now but, over time, can snowball into the kinds of regrets no one wants to face at sixty. Alongside each one, you’ll find a gentle, doable shift that can help you avoid that “I wish I had...” moment later on.

1. Ignoring small creative urges

You get the itch to doodle, start a garden, write that half-formed idea in your Notes app — but life is busy, so you shrug it off. Again. And again.

Over time, this habit of postponing self-expression can leave you feeling like a bystander in your own life.

Psychologist and creativity researcher Scott Barry Kaufman emphasizes that regular creative expression — not perfection, just expression—is deeply tied to long-term fulfillment.

People who ignore their creative impulses often report regret, not because they wanted to be famous, but because they never gave themselves the chance.

The fix: Create a “ten-minute window” for play every day. Doodle on the back of a receipt. Sing in the shower like you mean it. The goal isn’t output—it’s oxygen for your imagination.

2. Responding to loved ones on autopilot

Quick “yeah”s and “mm-hmm”s keep conversations moving, but they can slowly wear down connection.

People over 60 often say their greatest regret isn’t that relationships ended — it’s that they didn’t show up more fully while they had the chance.

Dr. Robert Waldinger, current director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, says the clearest finding from eight decades of data is that “it’s the quality, not the quantity, of our relationships that predicts lifelong happiness and health.

Being half-present becomes a habit, and one day, the chance to be fully present is gone.

The fix: Once a day, pause what you’re doing when someone talks to you—put down your phone, look them in the eye, and respond with genuine attention. It’s one minute of intentional connection that builds a lifetime of closeness.

3. Shrinking from small discomforts

Whether it’s avoiding difficult conversations, skipping the workout, or saying “I’m fine” when you’re anything but — dodging discomfort becomes easy to justify. But over time, avoiding what’s hard can calcify into a pattern of self-abandonment.

As author-coach Mel Robbins likes to remind her audiences, “You are always one decision away from a completely different life.” 

The problem?

Those decisions are rarely comfortable in the moment.

The fix: Practice the “small brave thing” approach. Each day, choose one slightly uncomfortable thing—send the honest email, speak up in the meeting, admit you need help. Tiny courage compounds, and future-you will thank you for building that muscle.

4. Letting busyness replace meaning

We’re good at being busy. Checking tasks, replying to emails, squeezing in one more errand. But years of productivity without reflection often lead people to say, “I don’t know where the time went.”

The trap is subtle: we confuse movement with meaning.

Psychologist Susan David warns against “emotional rigidity,” where doing more becomes a way to avoid feeling or reevaluating. Busyness can anesthetize us from asking the deeper questions.

The fix: Build in five minutes of quiet reflection. No phone. No podcast. Just sit, walk, or sip coffee and ask, What mattered today? Even a short pause helps you course-correct before years slip by on autopilot.

5. Putting off joy “until things settle down”

How many times have you said, “Once this project ends…” or “After the kids get older…” only to find that the next wave of busyness is already crashing in? Deferring joy becomes its own habit—and a hard one to break.

Many people later in life share the regret of waiting too long to travel, to dance, to eat the good cheese, to throw the party.

They assumed time would expand later. It rarely does.

The fix: Schedule one thing every week that feels just-for-you, even if it’s small. Tuesday afternoon ice cream. A mid-week walk with no destination. Joy isn’t a reward for hard work—it’s a vitamin for resilience.

6. Letting self-talk become subtly cruel

The little voices—“I’m so lazy,” “I can’t pull that off,” “Why do I always mess this up?”—can feel like background noise. But they shape how we move through the world. By the time people reach 60, these inner scripts have either been rewritten—or hardened into identity.

According to Kristin Neff, a leading expert on self-compassion, those who speak to themselves with kindness are more likely to bounce back from setbacks, form deeper relationships, and take healthier risks.

Without that voice, people often say their biggest regret is how long they waited to believe they were enough.

The fix: Catch one moment of self-judgment each day and reframe it. “I messed that up” becomes “I’m learning as I go.” Over time, you’ll build an inner voice that cheers you forward, not holds you back.

7. Treating your body like it’s a machine, not a friend

Skipping meals, sleeping less, moving only when guilt kicks in — these habits can quietly train you to ignore your body’s signals. And while your 30s and 40s might absorb the strain, your 60s won’t be so forgiving.

Over time, people regret not just the physical decline, but the missed chance to enjoy their bodies more.

• To dance without self-consciousness.
• To rest without shame.
• To feel strong, capable, and present inside their own skin.

The fix: Ask your body one question every day: What do you need right now—movement, stillness, food, water, rest, care? Then respond with something—even a glass of water or a five-minute stretch.

It's not about discipline. You're developing a friendship with your future self.

Final words

Regret isn’t always about one big missed opportunity. More often, it’s the slow drift—the tiny ways we abandon ourselves in favor of comfort, urgency, or habit.

The good news?

Every day is a chance to choose again. To notice a pattern. To pause and pivot. To write a different ending.

If you’re reading this in your 30s, 40s, or 50s, you still have time — so much time — to shift these habits. To speak more gently. To play a little more. To say what matters, while it still matters. And if you're reading this at 60 or beyond, maybe you're not too late at all. Maybe today is still the right day to change one small thing.

No one avoids regret entirely. But we can avoid accumulating it by being just 5% more awake to how we live, love, speak, and care for ourselves — today.