Humorist Erma Bombeck once wrote a column titled "If I Had My Life to Live Over." In it she offered such nuggets of wisdom as: "I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded," and "I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed."

Country singing star Tim McGraw wrote his blockbuster song "Live Like You Were Dying" shortly after the death of his father, baseball great Tug McGraw. I understand the notion that you have to live each day as if it were your last.

I was taught this at an early age by my golf coach at the University of Minnesota, Les Bolstad. He got me to focus on things like no one else ever did. When I was preparing for the NCAA Golf Championships my sophomore year, he told me to line up each putt and think of it as the last putt I would ever make.

Today I have that same focus. Before each speech or meeting, I think: This is the last speech I am ever going to make. This is the last negotiation I am ever going to enter, so it better be good.

And then I get ready to do it again!

If you had your life to live over, what would you do differently?

I've thought about that more than once. Besides the routine items like spending more time with my family and on leisure activities like golf, I came up with my own list. I still have plans to work on a few of these!

-- I would have been more available whenever a friend was in trouble or was going through a tough time due to divorce, financial trouble, job loss or even DUI. I would move mountains to contact my friend right away and say, I heard about your problem ... I'm thinking about you ... and if there is anything I can do to help, let me know. And I would wish him luck.

-- I would have been a high school basketball coach because you can make a huge impression on a youth's goals, ethics, discipline, respect and outlook on life at that early age. Coaches touch and shape many lives.

-- I would have written down all my goals when I was young, like my friend Lou Holtz, who wrote down 125 goals. Once he accomplished them, he tore them up and wrote down more goals.

-- I would have loved to be a Mr. Fix It. All my life I've been challenged in this area. For example, when my wife, Carol Ann, was pregnant with our first child, I came home from work and the light in the kitchen was not working. I called an electrician who came out and told me, "I've been an electrician for 28 years, and this is the first time I've had to make a house call to change a lightbulb."

-- I would have become tech savvy early on and been quicker to embrace the power of social media.

-- I would have studied abroad. My parents were right when they told me that travel is a great teacher. I did take off on a three-month European trip with two of my buddies and we visited 16 countries. It was a tremendous learning experience, and I wish I had done more of it at a young age.

-- I would have earned an MBA and taken business law classes. I'm a firm believer in continuous education, but other than getting my undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota and attending an executive program at Stanford University's graduate school of business, I never took additional formal business education.

-- I would have skied the Bugaboo Mountains in Canada, and run with the bulls in Pamplona to feed my sense of adventure.

-- I would have challenged myself by running more marathons and starting earlier than age 56.

-- My wife is an art historian, and I wish I had taken some courses so I could converse at her level. She is also a wine connoisseur, and I wish I had learned to appreciate fine wines.

-- I would have interviewed my parents and grandparents and learned more about our family history and genealogy. I treasure the lessons I learned from my father, but there is so much more information I wish I had gathered.

Mackay's Moral: Carpe diem! Seize the day!

Why is it that the general counsel of a company is always a lawyer and the head of engineering is always an engineer, yet the top sales manager isn't always a sales person? Sales is the engine that drives a company. No sales means no company.

I recently discussed this quandary with my friend Tom Hopkins, who is a sales management rock star. More than 4 million people have attended Tom's lively sales seminars. He leads 30 seminars each year throughout the United States and many foreign countries. More than 35,000 corporations and millions of professional salespeople use his sales training materials daily. He's also the author of 17 books, including the sales classic, "How to Master the Art of Selling."

Tom hit hard on these areas of improvement for sales managers:

Preplan sales meetings. Too many sales managers just show up and go through the motions. Tom led the country's top Coldwell Banker real estate office, and he always had an agenda to pass out so sales reps knew exactly what would be covered. And he always had some exciting new things because, "You have to really sell salespeople on selling each and every meeting."

Catch people doing something right and praise them. At every sales meeting Tom recognized people who were doing something right. He would try to praise 25 percent of the attendees at every meeting.

Serve as a role model. "Sales managers need to be a shining example of what they want their salespeople to be like," Tom said. "They need to be truly respected as human beings -- the way they live, their honesty, integrity and work ethic. Sales managers need to work harder on themselves than they do on the job of management to become the type of person that their salespeople want to become."

Emphasize time management. Tom said: "Sales managers need to work harder on time planning and organization than most people do. We all have 86,400 seconds in a day. No one has any more or any less. The most successful sales managers are eloquent time planners."

Strive to motivate and train people. Tom told me that the biggest mistake sales managers make is not making their salespeople productive fast enough. He stressed the need for up-to-date training and having a top-notch library in the office.

For example, Tom said when he was in management, he would give a favorite sales book to each new hire with a two-week assignment to highlight the best ideas on each page. On the last page he wrote that he would treat the person to a nice lunch. Then after two weeks, he would call the salesperson into his office and ask if he finished the book. If he said, "Oh, yeah. I finished it all," and didn't mention the lunch, then Tom knew his new hire had a character flaw.

I also use books for training, asking reps to share their insights with the rest of the staff. And when we send our salespeople to conventions, their assignment is to come back and teach everyone about the concepts at our next sales meeting.

Fire unproductive sales reps. "A good sales manager can't be afraid to change their people if they can't change their people," Tom said. "If you can't change a person after a 90-day period to where they get their attitude back and are productive, then you have to make a change. Too many sales managers just don't want to rock the boat."

I always say, it's not the people you fire who make your life miserable; it's the people you don't fire who make your life miserable.

Tom added: "If you are not periodically bringing in good, highly enthusiastic new people as needed, your office will plateau as to productivity, which is not what any company wants."

Be proactive. Tom told me that following a recession, too many companies wait until things are much better before they really get active and go out and take advantage of the market. The top companies start gearing up their sales activities before the cycle turns, so they're ahead of the competition.

Tom said: "When the economy is coming back, the story salespeople should be telling their customers is that all indicators by major economists are showing that your market is not only picking up, but it's getting hot. And we want your company to be ahead of your competition."

Mackay's Moral: A great sales manager sells his staff on the importance of managing their sales skills.

Have you heard the story of the colossal customer service bungle over the "bedbug letter"?

A guest in a hotel finds himself attacked by bedbugs during his stay. He writes an angry letter to the president of the hotel company. Within days, the president sends the guest a heartfelt apology, which reads in part: "I can assure you that such an event has never occurred before in our hotel. I promise you it will never happen again."

Sounds good, except for one small detail: Included with the apology is the guest's original letter. Scrawled across the top is the message: "Send this idiot the bedbug letter."

So it begs the question, who is sorry now?

There are several lessons to be learned from this tale:

-- Remedial customer service may start with an apology.

-- Never, ever mess up an apology.

-- The apology is almost always the start, not the end, of finishing things.

-- If you think being sorry solves a problem, you will really be sorry.

-- Finally, the cost of the fix is nearly always greater than doing things right the first time.

Start with the premise that everyone makes mistakes. It's human nature. What happens next is what demonstrates the true level of regret. The hotel president likely lost that customer forever. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. That customer tells family, friends and anyone who will listen about his experiences -- both with the bugs and the insulting letter. Reputations are ruined in an instant.

Businesses have long understood that bad customer experiences will be reported to family and friends nine times more than good experiences. Misery loves company, I guess.

Even the most sincere apology has limited effect. But if it helps a little, it's worth the effort. So don't blow what could be your only opportunity.

We see an apology from some thoughtless public figure every week: "If I offended anyone, I apologize." "My words were taken out of context." "I didn't realize that my actions would cause such a stir." All pretty pathetic attempts at sounding sorry, in my opinion.

Train your brain to think before you speak, act or tweet. Self-restraint is not old-fashioned. Remember that your private conversations or anonymous postings may be anything but private and anonymous.

The apology is just the beginning. It is critical to get it right. So take steps to be sure you don't disappoint a second time. The shallow "if I offended anyone" indicates that you are only sorry because you were forced into the apology. I'm curious, does anyone take those kinds of apologies seriously? Or do they sound like something your mother made you say when you were a child?

In business situations, apologies are generally related to poor service or defective products or missed deadlines. Those apologies must go beyond words.

First, admit your mistake. Don't gloss over the error or the effect it had on your customer. Get to the point and own the situation. You will not win the blame game.

Next, offer a solution that will demonstrate your sincere desire to make things right. Even if the customer had some responsibility, the cost of fixing one mistake is much lower than trying to repair a reputation after you've been panned on Facebook, Twitter or Angie's List.

Third, express your intention to make sure the same mistake never happens again. Offer the customer an opportunity to make suggestions, and be prepared to deal with critical feedback. Be sure to thank the customer for his input.

Finally, learn from the experience and use the lesson to train your staff. Make sure they understand that even minor mistakes and disappointments can cause major damage to your company's good name.

So my ideal apology might read: "We are so sorry for messing up what could be our only opportunity to serve you. Your disappointment in us is completely justified. We will fix this problem immediately and will not consider the case closed until you are completely satisfied. Here is the name, email and phone number of the person you can contact 24 hours a day to question, complain or check the progress of your situation." Then insert the name of the president of the company. That should let the customer know that you're serious.

Mackay's Moral: Saying you're sorry and showing you're sorry are not the same thing.