Tal Ben Shahar wrote the book on avoiding the drive for perfectionism and enjoying an imperfect life. So what does he say about his own career regrets?

Question: What is the worst mistake you've made in your career?

Tal Ben-Shahar: It's very difficult for me to answer this question about worst mistake, especially after having written a book about the importance of mistakes. So I can only think of best mistakes that I've made; you know, mistakes that I've learned from. And it could be mistakes in terms of taking on too many things, saying yes to too many things instead of simplifying my life. It could be the mistakes of doing things that were for the sake of getting accolades as opposed to things that were self-determined, that came from within, things that have been really -- that I was passionate about. Or the mistakes of not being nice enough to people in authority, and I've very often paid a price for that.

Recorded on:  September 23, 2009