Book review: The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink

How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward

This book is about why regret helps us to be human and how it makes us better people, perform better, make better judgments, understand things better, about undoing and leaving a trace, and about making every regret count. It goes into self-disclosure by reliving and relieving as well as normalizing and neutralizing your compassion. And in the end, you analyze and strategize.

It revolves around the four core categories of regret: foundation, boldness, moral, and connection. Foundation regrets are where we decide for short-term advantages over long-term payoffs. Typically, they equate to: “If only I’d done the work.” Boldness regrets are of inaction and typically equate to: “If only I’d taken that risk.” However, research reveals that people regret failures to act more intensely than acts they regret. Moral regrets comprise barely 10 percent of regrets in Daniel Pink’s research yet they frequently hurt the most and stay the longest and typically equate to: “If only I’d done the proper thing.” Lastly, connection regrets emerge from relationships that have gone undone or remain incomplete such as when friends lose touch with each other over years or families have a falling out. They typically equate to: “If only I’d reached out.”

I found the book to be interesting and helpful. particularly when broken down into manageable bites of the categories of regret. It definitely made me reflect on my life and my regrets and take some action with the louder regrets tinkering around in my mind. If you want to read this book in its entirety, get it here.

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