What Makes a Good Life? This Study on 26,000 Regrets Will Guide You for the Rest of Your Life

5/25/20261 hr 10 min

When was the last time you thought about something you wish you'd done differently?

A relationship you let drift apart. A mistake you wish you could take back. A conversation you keep putting off. A decision that you now realize was the wrong one.

You’re not alone. Regret is actually one of the most common emotions people experience – and it’s the most misunderstood.

That’s why Mel invited Daniel Pink, one of the most influential thinkers and authors of our time, to share the findings of his World Regret Survey, the largest study of human regret ever conducted, analyzing more than 26,000 regrets from people across 134 countries.

After analyzing regrets from all around the world, his research has found that there are 4 core types of regrets, and based on what kind of regret you're dealing with, there are specific strategies that you can use to process it, learn from it, and move forward.

You’re also going to be inspired to take action after hearing what other people regret the most, so you can live in a way that will avoid these regrets for yourself.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

-The 4 types of regret and how to recognize yours

-The one type of regret that shows up more than any other

-Why the things you didn't do will haunt you far more than the things you did, and what that tells you to go do today

-Daniel's 3-step reset to stop repeating the same patterns and start moving forward

-One simple move you can make today to stop repeating the same regret pattern

This is not a conversation about the past. It's a conversation about what you do next.

Because after studying 26,000 regrets, the answer is clear:

You can't change what happened. You can change what happens next.

For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page.

If you liked the episode, check out this one next: This One Study Will Change How You Think About Your Entire Life: The Cornell Legacy Project

Connect with Mel:

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Clips

Only Sociopaths Lack Regret

You're Not That Special

Four Universal Regret Types

The Value of Grief

Advice From Future You

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

Mel Robbins· Host0:00
Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to The Mel Robbins Podcast. [upbeat music] Today, you and I are talking about a global study that completely changed the way I think about my entire life. This study is called The Global Regret Survey, and it analyzed more than 26,000 regrets from people in 134 countries. Now, when I read this research, it stopped me in my tracks. You know what it made me realize? I need to call my dad. I need to take my health more seriously. I need to stop beating myself up over the stupid things that I did in my 20s, my 30s, my 40s, and just move on. I was so moved by what I learned, that I invited the director of that study, Daniel Pink, to be here in Boston for a life-changing conversation about regret. Daniel Pink is gonna teach you that after analyzing regrets from all over the world, there are four types of regrets, and based on what kind of regret you're dealing with, there's very specific strategies that you can use based on the research to process the regret, to learn from it, and more importantly, move forward. Second, we're gonna talk about three steps based on research that you and your loved ones need, that are proven to help you break free of that heavy judgment, that weight that you feel when you regret something.

Clips

Transcript preview

We value your privacy