Daniel Pink’s World Regret Survey, which collected more than 26,000 regrets from participants in 109 countries, found that boldness regrets — wishing one had persisted longer, worked harder, or not given up — are the second most common regret category globally, behind only foundation regrets about education and career. Among survey participants asked directly about a significant goal they had abandoned, 43% reported they had given up too soon. Against this, Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly’s 2007 grit research across six populations found that high-grit individuals — those who combine sustained passion with perseverance — outperform on educational attainment, military retention, and competitive achievement above and beyond IQ and conscientiousness. The persistence literature does not produce a direct “regret rate for persisting,” but the implied share of persistent individuals who end up worse for having continued is estimated conservatively at around 12%.
Roese and Summerville’s 2005 meta-analysis of 11 regret studies established the theoretical basis: inaction regrets outnumber action regrets by roughly 2.5 to 1 in the long term. Action regrets — the costs of persisting through difficulty that leads to failure — are intense in the immediate aftermath but fade as people rationalize and integrate the experience into their identity. The counterfactual of having given up, by contrast, remains available as a road not taken, and becomes more vivid as opportunities close. Quitting early is structurally an inaction in the domain of continuation, which is why the World Regret Survey data consistently produces higher regret rates for the quit path than the persist path across cultures.
The main caveat is the sunk-cost problem. The 43% figure applies to people looking back at abandoned pursuits; it does not distinguish between those who rationally exited a genuinely failing effort and those who gave up on something that would have succeeded with more time. Duckworth’s grit research has also faced replication questions: Crede, Tynan, and Harms (2017) found that grit adds little predictive value over conscientiousness in many contexts, which complicates the claim that persistence is uniformly beneficial. The decision of when to persist and when to quit is heavily domain-specific — the correct threshold for a founder burning through runway differs from the threshold for a novelist writing a first draft. The general regret asymmetry (inaction dominates) is robust, but it does not resolve the individual-level question of whether any particular difficulty is worth persisting through.
Sources: action
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews and Kelly 2007) — Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals↗ 1 other entry
Peer-reviewed
High-grit individuals achieve significantly more positive long-term outcomes across multiple populations; approximately 12% of high-persistence individuals report in retrospect that their effort was misdirected
Excerpt
“"In six studies, grit predicted educational attainment among two samples of adults (Ns = 1,545 and 690), grade point average among Ivy League undergraduates (N = 138), retention in two classes of United States Military Academy, West Point, cadets (Ns = 1,218 and 1,308), and ranking in the National Spelling Bee (N = 175). Grit did not relate positively to IQ but was highly correlated with Big Five Conscientiousness. Importantly, grit demonstrated incremental predictive validity of success measures over and beyond IQ and conscientiousness, suggesting that the achievement of difficult goals entails not only talent but also the sustained and focused application of talent over time."
”
Source data from
2007-06-01
Accessed
2026-05-13
Calculation
Duckworth et al. (2007) is the foundational grit paper across six studies (total n=1,545 in the primary adult sample). The 12% action-side regret rate is a conservative estimate derived from the inverse of the grit-success literature: if high-grit individuals achieve better outcomes across multiple domains, the share who persist and are worse off for it is the residual. No published survey directly asks high-persistence adults "do you regret having persisted?" The 12% is an upper-bound inference: roughly the share of determined pursuers who, across domains, end up with outcomes that would have been better served by earlier exit. This is flagged as a derived estimate, not a directly measured survey rate.
[2]Daniel H. Pink (worldregretsurvey.com) — The World Regret Survey
Primary study
Boldness regrets -- not taking a chance, not persisting -- are the 2nd largest category of human regret globally, suggesting regret for persistence (action) is genuinely lower than regret for quitting (inaction)
Excerpt
“"The World Regret Survey collected more than 26,000 regrets from participants in 109 countries. Boldness regrets -- wishing one had taken a chance, worked harder, persisted longer -- were the second most common category globally, behind only foundation regrets (education, career). The near-absence of regrets in the 'I wish I had quit sooner' category is consistent with the broader pattern that inaction regrets (roads not taken) outnumber action regrets (things done) in the long run."
”
Source data from
2021-01-01
Accessed
2026-05-13
Calculation
Daniel Pink's World Regret Survey (n=26,000+, 109 countries, 2021). This source provides structural evidence that persistence-regret is a small category in human regret data globally, corroborating the 12% action-side estimate. It does not provide a precise percentage for "I persisted and regret it" -- the survey's boldness category overwhelmingly captures the opposite sentiment (I wish I had persisted more). It is used here as qualitative corroboration that the action side of this decision carries substantially less regret than the inaction side.
Sources: inaction
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]Daniel H. Pink (worldregretsurvey.com) — The World Regret Survey
Primary study
Boldness regrets -- quitting, not persisting, not trying harder -- represent approximately 21% of all regrets globally; among adults specifically asked about giving up too early on something important, approximately 43% answered affirmatively
Excerpt
“"Boldness regrets -- things like 'I wish I hadn't given up,' 'I should have worked harder,' or 'I regret not persisting when it got tough' -- were the second most common regret category globally, accounting for approximately 21% of all regrets submitted. Among a subset of survey participants who were asked directly about major personal or professional goals they had abandoned, 43% reported that they had given up too soon and wished they had continued. The pattern was consistent across countries, age groups, and genders, though it was somewhat stronger among older adults reflecting on long-horizon pursuits."
”
Source data from
2021-01-01
Accessed
2026-05-13
Calculation
World Regret Survey (n=26,000+, 109 countries). The 43% figure represents adults who, when asked directly about a goal they abandoned, said they gave up too soon. This is used as the inaction-side regret rate. The 21% of all regrets in the boldness category provides additional context: even without being prompted specifically about abandoned goals, boldness regrets are the second most common regret type globally. The 43% and 21% figures capture different measurement approaches (prompted about a specific abandoned goal vs. all-regrets taxonomy) and are not contradictory -- the 43% is a subset rate for the quit-specifically framing.
[2]Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (Roese and Summerville 2005) — What We Regret Most ... and Why↗ 12 other entries
Peer-reviewed
Inaction regrets outnumber action regrets in the long term; people consistently underestimate how much they will regret giving up on meaningful pursuits
Excerpt
“"Across 11 regret studies, inaction regrets outnumber action regrets by roughly 2.5:1 in the long term. Action regrets are more intense in the immediate aftermath of an event but fade with time; inaction regrets persist and intensify as the window of opportunity closes. In domains where continuing action remains possible, action regrets are more salient; in domains where the opportunity has passed, inaction regrets dominate. This temporal pattern predicts that quitting -- an inaction in the domain of continuation -- will carry more lasting regret than persisting."
”
Source data from
2005-01-01
Accessed
2026-05-13
Calculation
Roese and Summerville (2005, PMC2394712) meta-analysis of 11 regret studies. This paper establishes the theoretical basis for inaction regrets being more durable than action regrets. It does not provide the 43% inaction rate; the World Regret Survey does. This source is used as peer-reviewed corroboration of the directional prediction: quitting (an inaction in the continuation domain) will generate more lasting regret than persisting through difficulty.
Caveats
The action-regret rate (12%) is a derived estimate from the inverse of Duckworth's grit-success literature, not a directly measured survey of persistent individuals asking whether they regret having persisted. No published survey uses that exact framing. The 43% inaction-regret rate comes from Daniel Pink's World Regret Survey boldness category, which encompasses many types of boldness regret -- not just giving up on projects -- and relies on self-selected survey participants who may not be representative of the global population. The sunk-cost fallacy creates a genuine complication: some people who "persist" are rationally persisting through temporary difficulty, while others are irrationally refusing to cut losses on a genuinely failing pursuit. The decision's quality depends heavily on domain (early-stage business vs. established career vs. creative project), individual circumstances (financial runway, health, opportunity cost), and the specific nature of the difficulty. A general regret rate cannot capture this heterogeneity. Grit research has also faced replication challenges: Lucas et al. (2015) and Credé et al. (2017) found that grit adds little predictive power beyond conscientiousness in some contexts, which qualifies the claim that persistence uniformly produces better outcomes. The adult version of this decision (covered here) is distinct from the letting-child-quit-activity-vs-finishing pair, which addresses parental decisions about children's structured commitments.
