Here's some interesting news that was sent to me in an email this morning. I thought it may help you when planning goals for your writing career or just life in general. A new study from Cornell University published in the journal Emotion uncovered the biggest regrets that people had in life, reports Forbes.com.

“And they aren’t about missing a deadline or not buying a big house,” says Jennifer Longmore, B.A.S.W., M.Ed, a Life Coach & Founder of Soul Journeys, an international coaching company that helps everyone from Fortune 500 CEOs to Professional Athletes rediscover their life’s purpose.

The study found that the biggest regrets people had in life were about failing to fulfill their hopes, goals and aspirations and NOT about failing to fulfill their duties, obligations and responsibilities, writes The Cornell Chronicle.

“We want to feel like we matter and that our lives have meaning, but in order to do that you have to first identify your life’s purpose and then go after it,” explains Jennifer Longmore, who has conducted over 30,000 soul purpose sessions, including ones with Fortune 500 executives at Microsoft, Amazon and Disney, as well as with professional athletes from the Chicago Bulls, the L.A. Lakers and the Seattle Sounders.

Longmore says:

Here's How To Identify Your Soul Purpose To Live A Regret-Free Life

• Flip through magazines. Rip out pages that speak to you, even if you don’t know why. It can help you identify your passions.

• Identify leaders you admire. Read their biographies. You can get clues to how they live their life. Success always leaves clues.

• Look for people in your life who you feel are living on purpose. Go ask them some questions. Just talking about this with others will help you start to uncover your own passions.

• Be purposeful. When we are purposeful about morning habits it ripples into other areas of our life. Set up a morning routine for your first hour of waking and start doing this every day.

• Clear out your unhealthy habits. Put a priority on health. We all know what our bad habits are, work on cutting them out. Health clears the mental clutter and makes you think clearly, making it easier to discover your life path.

• Read books on soul purpose, goal achievement, and mindfulness. Try The Fluff-Free Freelance Writing Master Course Workbook: The only course that gives you concrete, actionable information to building a successful freelance business without any fluff.

• Start small. Once you have an idea of something you want to achieve, try it on for size – see if you really do like it before you dive headfirst.

• Meet people. Network with people who are doing what you want to do. Not only will you learn from them, you may get an opportunity to jump into the work.

• Make time. Make your purpose a priority. On hour a week, google how to achieve your goal and schedule these steps into your calendar for specific dates and times.