The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward

Daniel H. Pink’s The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward highlights regret as a negative emotion that people should embrace. Pink subverts the popular adage “No regrets” by emphasizing the power of regret to improve lives. When people fail to consider and learn from their regrets, they are more likely to repeat bad decisions, which compound throughout their lives. Pink points out that experiencing regret can decrease the likelihood of repeating mistakes. In this sense, regret improves our decision-making. For example, if we make a poor decision and experience regret, we know to avoid the same decision in the future. By considering our regrets, we are more likely to slow down and think about how to make better decisions going forward. Likewise, Pink states that regret can “boost performance” (45). Because If Only counterfactuals (how things could be better) cause people to feel bad, they motivate people to adjust their strategy, try harder, or both.

Regret not only sharpens decision-making and boosts performance but “deepen[s] meaning” (47). A 2010 study concluded that “[c]ounterfactual reflection endows both major life experiences and relationships with greater meaning” (97). Other studies have shown that

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