DecisionSkills Articles - Decision Skills

Seven Ways to Harness the Power of Regret

12/28/2020

“Many people say they “regret nothing” or they “wouldn't do anything differently” if they could live over again. Although such statements are offered with sincerity, they can be difficult to accept at face value. Living a life with no mistakes and without any regrets is extraordinarily hard to accomplish. A lifetime of making choices brings with it the knowledge that at least some actions were ill-considered, some failures to act unwise. For most of us, it also brings with it the realization that some of these unfortunate outcomes could have been avoided. To live, it seems, is to accumulate at least some regrets.” - Thomas Gilovich and Victoria Husted Medvec (1995)

In this article I am going to discuss the science of regret. Specifically, I want to focus on regret as a cognitive skill that you can develop, as a tool that you can use to improve decision-making by regulating the intensity.

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