A significant portion of modern culture proposes that we live with no regrets. You may have even seen people sporting “no regrets” tattoos. But what if that advice is significantly wrong and regret was, in fact, actually a helpful thing? That’s the highly provoking question our guest, Daniel Pink, poses in today’s Passion Struck podcast interview.
Pink then answers the question using scientific research and two of the most extensive mega studies ever done on the subject, which validate that regret can be an incredibly valuable experience and powerful tool for creating a well-lived life. In fact, he argues that a life entirely without regret might even do more harm than good.
With millions of copies of his #1 New York Times bestselling big-idea books sold, a renowned TED talk that has been viewed more than thirty-eight million times, lectures around the world, and the acclaim of everyone from Fortune 500 CEOs to Oprah, Daniel Pink has changed the way we live by changing how we think. His books have sold millions of copies, are translated into 42 languages, and won multiple awards. Today, we discuss Dan’s newest bestselling book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Back Moves us Forward.
-►Order a copy of The Power of Regret: https://amzn.to/3V2ayzh (Amazon Link)
Positive emotions make life worth living. But you don’t want to have only positive emotions. You want to have some negative emotions mixed in there because negative emotions are functional, and one of our most functional negative emotions is regret. So you don’t want to extinguish it. You want to be able to harness it.
Daniel Pink
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Listen Notes, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube below.
Enjoy!
In This Episode, Daniel Pink And I Discuss His New Book, The Power of Regret
In his new book, The Power of Regret, Daniel Pink tackles a topic we’ve all struggled with and views it through a new lens. He draws on neuroscience, psychology, behavioral economics, and biology research to question widely-held inferences about negative emotions. By creating the largest sampling of regret measuring American attitudes as well as Dan’s own World Regret Survey—assembling regrets from more than 21,000 people in over 100 countries—he discovered four major regrets that people experience worldwide.
Have you ever wondered why regret is essentially about deepening the connection with yourself and others? Of course, some people have more reflection than others. Does that reflection correspond with the amount of regret they feel? Do people with more reflection have more regrets? Should we use our regret more wisely or have less of it? How do we take advantage of regret without getting trapped in rumination? And why instead of running away from negative emotions, we should engage with them and use them to learn.
Have any questions, comments, or stories you’d like to share? Drop us a line at [email protected]m!
And much more…
Please Scroll Down For Featured Resources
Thank You To Our Sponsors: More Info At PassionStruck.Com/Deals.
Our Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/passionstruck
Thank You, Dry Farm Wines, For Sponsoring
This episode of Passion Struck with John R. Miles is brought to you by Dry Farm Wines, which Have No Chemical Additives for Aroma, Color, Flavor, or Texture Enhancement. Dry Farm Wines – The Only Natural Wine Club That Goes Above and Beyond Industry Standards. For Passion Struck listeners: Dry Farm Wines offers an extra bottle in your first box for a penny (because it’s alcohol, it can’t be free). See all the details and collect your wine at https://www.dryfarmwines.com/passionstruck/.
*Our Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/passionstruck.
Thank You, InsideTracker, For Sponsoring
InsideTracker is the ultra-personalized performance system that analyzes biomarker data from your blood, DNA, lifestyle, and fitness tracker to help you optimize your body and reach your health & wellness goals. InsideTracker transforms your body’s data into true knowledge, meaningful insights, and customized action plans of evidence-based nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle recommendations. Just go to https://insidetracker.com/passionstruck.
Starter Packs
New to the show? These Starter Packs are collections of our most popular episodes grouped by topic, and we now have them also on Spotify. You can also browse starter packs for existing listeners to find your old favorites. Every week, John interviews everyday heroes from all walks of life. Learn how to subscribe to the show and never miss a new episode and topic.
Like this? Please subscribe, and join me on my new YouTube platform for peak performance, life coaching, and personal growth: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnRMiles/.
More From My Interview With Daniel Pink on the Power of Regret
During the Passion Struck podcast interview, I asked Dan why our modern culture has such a hard time dealing with the concept of regret.
Daniel Pink explains, “Yeah, that’s a good question. I think it’s a few things. Number one is that no one ever teaches us how to deal with negative and unpleasant emotions, so we don’t know what to do. It’s very easy when we’re getting signals we don’t want to hear to put our fingers in our ears and try to combat them.
We’ve also been, on some levels, sold a bill of goods that we should be positive all the time, which is absolutely not true. Here’s the thing. It’s like it’s too much of a good thing. Positive emotions are awesome, right? Positive emotions make life worth living. But you don’t want to have only positive emotions. You want to have some negative emotions mixed in there because negative emotions are functional.
And one of our most functional negative emotions is regret.
So you don’t want to extinguish it. You want to be able to harness it. We haven’t been shown how to do that. It’s intuitively sensible. And make sense in our gut to say, oh, you should be positive. But what we haven’t done is given people a way to deal with the negative. And again, there’s a middle ground. We don’t want you to ignore our regrets. We don’t want a wall on our regrets. We want to think about our regrets.
We want to do what you’re doing. We want to use them as data as information, as signals, as material we can use to improve our lives. And so that between ignoring and wallowing is where there’s incredible growth and progress.
Thanks, Daniel Pink!
If you enjoyed this interview with Daniel Pink, let him know by clicking on the link below and sending him a quick shout on Instagram:
Click here to give Daniel PInk a shout-out on Instagram!
Click here to let John R. Miles know about your number one takeaway from this episode!
And if you want us to answer your questions or you have a topic you would like John to discuss on one of our upcoming weekly Momentum Friday episodes, drop us a line at [email protected].
Resources From The Show With Daniel Pink
Please note that some of the links on this page (books, movies, music, etc.) lead to affiliate programs for which The Passion Struck podcast receives compensation. It’s just one of the ways we keep the lights on around here. Thank you so much for being so supportive!
- Read A Whole New Mind: https://amzn.to/3ybmdC6
- Read Drive: https://amzn.to/3M0Fqwa
- Read To Sell is Human: https://amzn.to/3M2OfFG
- Website: https://www.danpink.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielpink/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielpink
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielhpink
- My solo episode on whether or not free will exists: https://passionstruck.com/does-the-concept-of-free-will-really-exist/
- My interview with Seth Godin on why we need systems to change to save the planet and address climate change: https://passionstruck.com/seth-godin-we-need-systems-change-save-planet/.
- My interview with Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman and Dr. Jordan Feingold on Choosing Growth and transcending self-doubt, fear, and anxiety: https://passionstruck.com/jordyn-feingold-scott-barry-kaufman-chose-growth/
- My interview with Dr. Katy Milkman on the behavior science behind how we change: https://passionstruck.com/katy-milkman-behavior-change-for-good/
- My solo episode on why micro choices matter: https://passionstruck.com/why-your-micro-choices-determine-your-life/
About Today’s Guest Daniel Pink
Daniel Pink is the author of the NY Times bestsellers A Whole New Mind, Drive, To Sell is Human, The Power of Regret, and When. His books have sold millions of copies, translated into 42 languages, and won multiple awards. Dan partners with Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, and Susan Cain to curate the Next Big Idea Book Club. They donate all their proceeds to children’s literacy programs.
Follow John R. Miles On The Socials
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/Milesjohnr
* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnrmiles.c0m
* Medium: https://medium.com/@JohnRMiles
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_r_miles
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milesjohn/
* Blog: https://johnrmiles.com/blog/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_podcast/
* Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/passion_struck/
John R. Miles is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and founder of Passion Struck. This full-service media company helps people live intentionally by creating best-in-class educational and entertainment content. John is also a prolific public speaker, venture capitalist, and author named to the ComputerWorld Top 100 IT Leaders.
John is the host of the PassionStruckPodcast. The show focused on exploring the mindset and philosophy of the world’s most inspiring people to learn their lessons to living intentionally. Passion Struck aspires to speak to the humanity of people in a way that makes them want to live better, be better and impact.
Stay tuned for JJohn’slatest project, his upcoming book, which will be published in summer 2022.
Learn more about me: https://johnrmiles.com