The Power of Regret

How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward

By: Daniel H. Pink

Narrated by: Daniel H. Pink, Gisela Chipe, Edward Hong, Hillary Huber, Sarah Palmero, Alejandro Ruiz, Fred Sanders, Neil Shah, Jade Wheeler, Nancy Wu

“The world needs this book.” — New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown

An instant New York Times bestseller

Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR and Financial Times

From the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of When and Drive, a new book about the transforming power of our most misunderstood yet potentially most valuable emotion: regret.

Everybody has regrets, Daniel H. Pink explains in The Power of Regret. They’re a universal and healthy part of being human. And understanding how regret works can help us make smarter decisions, perform better at work and school, and bring greater meaning to our lives.

Drawing on research in social psychology, neuroscience, and biology, Pink debunks the myth of the “no regrets” philosophy of life. And using the largest sampling of American attitudes about regret ever conducted as well as his own World Regret Survey—which has collected regrets from more than 15,000 people in 105 countries—he lays out the four core regrets that each of us has. These deep regrets offer compelling insights into how we live and how we can find a better path forward.

As he did in his bestsellers Drive, When, and A Whole New Mind, Pink lays out a dynamic new way of thinking about regret and frames his ideas in ways that are clear, accessible, and pragmatic. Packed with true stories of people's regrets as well as practical takeaways for reimagining regret as a positive force, The Power of Regret shows how we can live richer, more engaged lives.

©2022 Daniel H. Pink (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Daniel Pink reclaims regret as an indispensable emotion and explains how to use it to make better decisions, perform better at work or school and bring greater meaning to your life. His well-known, user-friendly style, chock-full of moving stories, will have you looking at regret as something that doesn’t just make us human, but also makes us better.” —The Wall Street Journal

“The Power of Regret dives deep into the research behind the 'most misunderstood' emotion and brings it to life through accessible human storytelling.” —Forbes

“Regret could be overdue for its own rebranding. … [A] look back might be the way to move forward. We might find lessons lurking in moments we’ve pushed from the light. Regret has long been considered a sign of weakness, but what if we saw it as a strength?” —The Washington Post

Powerful, immediately relevant

I'd always thought the feeling of regret was a bad thing, a weakness to be avoided if possible. Yet nobody can help it; we all feel it. There are lots of ways to signal this feeling in conversation too. That's why I wanted to listen this time.

Pink cites studies, especially international studies about regret. People mostly regret not having taken a bold action that would have demonstrated character and courage, the knowing a course of action is right on some important level but not choosing it in favor of playing it safe.

Pink explains our own motivations that never get voiced. He says relationships drift apart because the actors avoid the awkwardness of reaching out, hence a huge bundle of regrets he terms as "connection regrets."

I found this book at times difficult to listen through because it caused me to reflect and feel my regrets which isn't a wonderful feeling. I suppose this process serves to prepare one to be more action-oriented going forward. At least that's the hope.

Powerful

The title betrays this book to some degree, risking casting it into the realm of self-help publications. I found the contrary to be true. This is a heavily researched work, drawing from the literature in psychology, sociology, economics and beyond to form an elegantly crafter analysis and description of regret in the human experience. I believe it will become a foundational text in understanding of regret moving forward.

I virtually never give five stars but I did here.

I've listened to or read most are all of Daniel Pink's books this stands out is being even more exceptional than my formerly favorite book of his which was Drive.

As an optimistic nihilist I'd say skip the Bible and read this instead if you want a more fulfilling life for yourself and others.

tim #bgreen

If only I had read this book sooner

It’s an enlightening, and insightful book that is well narrated. This book helped me to understand myself more clearly.

Comments from a reader

This book is for those that struggle with their regrets. The book does a good job of giving you tools that will get you to rethink and act on your regrets to lead to better outcomes.

I don’t regret listening to this!

There are some books that you listen to and think, “This is totally common sense. Why did they write this?” However, this book made me think, “Thank God for this road map through regret!” The last few years have been a challenge and decisions have weighed on me heavily. I’m thankful for guidance.

Inspiring

Daniel Pink brings so many ideas and emotions to surface. The book is inspiring. The amount of research he did is amazing and adds credibility to his concepts.

WOW

I listened to the entire book in one day. It was fascinating and has already helped me add nuance to some of my big life regrets. The narration was perfect, the author has a good speaking voice and the additional voice actors for the quotes worked to give the feel of the actual person reading their regrets to us.

Worth Reading

I enjoyed listening to this book on the many types of regret. I appreciate all of the hours of research that went into crafting it and delivering it to the world. I learned a couple of things too. Thank you Daniel Pink for writing this book and taking the time to also read it. Well done.

The power of regret

Great book! Absolutely loved the story. The examples were engaging and relatable. I would highly recommend giving this a read.