Today we welcome Dan Pink who is the New York Times bestselling author of When, Drive, A Whole New Mind, and To Sell is Human. Dan’s books have won multiple awards, have been translated into 42 languages, and have sold millions of copies around the world. His articles and essays have also appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, Slate, and other publications. His most recent book is called The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward. 

In this episode, I talk to Dan Pink about regret. Dan collected regrets from over 15,000 people across different countries and sorted them into four major categories. He shares insights from his research and shows us how to reframe regret so we can live out the rest of our lives with more authenticity and purpose. We also touch on the topics of happiness, mortality, philosophy, post-traumatic growth, and personality.

Website: www.danpink.com

Twitter: @DanielPink

Topics

02:52 The universality of regret

05:40 Demographic differences in regrets

11:53 Free will and fatalism

15:47 What could have beens

19:13 Action vs inaction

24:12 The four core regrets

28:40 Regret done right

36:04 Debunking “No regrets”

37:59 We don’t talk enough about mortality

41:20 Deathbed regrets

42:38 Regret and gratefulness

45:40 Treat yourself with kindness

47:30 Shame, guilt, remorse 

48:21 Do public figures experience more regret?