The Power of Regret
How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward
-
-
3.7 • 6 Ratings
-
-
- £6.99
Publisher Description
A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022: BUSINESS
A DAILY UK NEWS BEST BOOK OF 2022: BUSINESS
Everybody has regrets. They’re a fundamental part of our lives. In The Power of Regret, Pink explains how we can enlist our regrets to make smarter decisions, perform better and deepen our sense of meaning and purpose.
Drawing on the largest sampling of attitudes about regret ever conducted from his own World Regret Survey, Pink identifies the four core regrets that most people have. With his signature blend of big ideas and practical takeaways, captivating stories and crisp humour, he argues that by understanding what people regret the most, we can understand what they value the most. We can transform our regrets into a positive force for working smarter and living better.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Here, Daniel H. Pink attempts to deconstructs something we’re all told: not to dwell on our regrets. Instead, it's been his desire to study exactly what we do end up regretting and weaponise those feelings into something positive for us learn from. Using the results from his World Regret Survey—a vast gathering of admissions from more than 16,000 people in over 100 countries—Pink has been able to focus in on the four key regrets. In studying this Big Four (an inability to act responsibly, not taking chances, making poor moral decisions and broken relationships) we’re able to dissect what’s truly important to us all, take ownership of our mistakes and make better choices moving forward.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Regret "clarifies. It instructs. Done right, it needn't drag us down," writes Pink (When) in this pragmatic guide to harnessing the power of the past. He draws on the largest survey ever conducted of Americans' regrets, as well as his own poll of thousands of respondents in 105 countries, to reveal the four most common types of regret: foundational (the failure to be responsible regarding education, finances, or health), boldness (the chances not taken), moral (taking "the low road"), and connection (fractured or unrealized relationships). Rather than despairing over regrets, Pink urges readers to think of them as opportunities for growth and learning, and offers a program for doing so. First, one should acknowledge the regret to "reduce some of its burden," then grant oneself "the same... understanding offer another," and finally, create some distance by talking about it in the third person, which can turn it into a lesson. Pink assembles an impressive array of research and includes some moving stories of people dealing with mistakes, as with one woman whose regret at not having spent more time with her grandparents "helped her to see her own life as a puzzle with meaning as the center piece." Readers looking to shake their shame should start here.
