Fueled by regret

There’s not a lot of room in traditional career approaches for regret. We’re supposed to commit early on to a singular path and climb ever higher, rung by rung. Setbacks should be avoided.

Daniel Pink begs to differ.

Pink’s latest book is about the power regret has to improve our lives moving forward. For anyone who has seen their share of career setbacks, it contains useful lessons on why those setbacks aren’t necessarily the enemies of progress. Instead, they can propel us farther in the long run.

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Research shows people regret missed opportunities more than missed obligations, Pink says. This is the difference between what we could have done and what we should have done. We work harder to correct those missed obligations, the should have dones. And that leaves us with a well of missed opportunities.

For career-related regrets, this means most people regret not being bolder in their career choices and grabbing those opportunities.

But all is not lost. Even if we lose out on a career opportunity, that experience can make us stronger performers.

One study Pink cites shows that, in the long run, applicants who narrowly missed receiving a scientific grant systematically outperformed those who won the grant as their careers moved forward. They were 21 percent more likely to produce a hit paper and published more often.

“The researchers concluded that it was the setback itself that supplied the fuel. The near miss likely prompted regret, which spurred reflection, which revised strategy, which improved performance.”

Reflecting on our professional journeys is a useful exercise to find common themes even when the path forward is unclear. I’m glad to know the setbacks along the way can help us make progress.

Happy navigating,
Bridget