Reference source
Behavioral Scientist
What Is the Power of Regret? A Conversation with Daniel Pink
Cited in 2 Likelier entries (0 risks, 2 decisions).
Used in 3 entries
For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.
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- Statistic
In the World Regret Survey of 26,000+ respondents across 134 countries, inaction regrets outnumbered action regrets 2:1; education ranked at the top of specific-domain regrets; boldness regrets (lost opportunities) were among the four core categories
“"Inaction regrets outnumbered action regrets by two to one. Boldness regrets — arising from the failure to take full advantage of opportunities as a springboard into a potentially more fulfilled life — were among the most common of the four core regret categories. Education — both 'missed educational opportunities' and 'bad educational choice' — came out on top when examining specific types of regrets."”
Calculation notes
Daniel Pink's World Regret Survey, 26,000+ open-ended regrets from 134 countries. Replicates the Roese-Summerville education-tops-the-list finding two decades later with a global sample. Used as cross-method corroboration: forced-choice (Roese-Summerville) and open-ended (Pink) methodologies converge on education / skill-development as a top regret domain. The ~33% boldness-regret share from Pink applies directly to the skill-development decision because "I should have learned X / got the certification / finished the course" maps cleanly to boldness-regret coding. Not a measured coast-side regret rate; the cross-method convergence supports the directional inaction-dominant pattern in this domain.
Source date: 2022-02-08 · Accessed: 2026-05-30
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In the World Regret Survey of 26,000+ respondents across 134 countries, inaction regrets outnumbered action regrets roughly 2:1; boldness regrets were one of four core categories; moral regrets (action-type) were the smallest category at ~10%
“"Inaction regrets outnumbered action regrets by two to one. Boldness regrets — arising from the failure to take full advantage of opportunities as a springboard into a potentially more fulfilled life — were among the most common of the four core regret categories."”
Calculation notes
Daniel Pink's World Regret Survey collected 26,000+ regrets from 134 countries via open-ended coding. The 2:1 inaction-to-action ratio from open-ended responses is domain-general but more relevant to boldness/change decisions than forced-choice data. Moral regrets (the smallest category, ~10%) are the primary action-type regrets. We use 10% as the action-side proxy for "regretting having taken bold action" since bold-action regrets map primarily to the moral-regret category (actions that hurt others or violated values).
Source date: 2022-02-08 · Accessed: 2026-04-26
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Boldness regrets — chances not taken, risks left on the table — were one of four core categories in the World Regret Survey, with inaction regrets outnumbering action regrets 2:1 overall
“"Inaction regrets outnumbered action regrets by two to one. Boldness regrets — arising from the failure to take full advantage of opportunities as a springboard into a potentially more fulfilled life — were among the most common of the four core regret categories."”
Calculation notes
Pink identified four core regret categories: foundation, boldness, moral, and connection. Moral regrets were the smallest (~10%). The remaining ~90% distributed across three inaction- dominant categories. Given the 2:1 inaction-to-action ratio and four roughly distributed categories (with moral being smallest), boldness regrets likely represent approximately one-third of the total. We estimate ~33% as the boldness-regret share. This is an approximation — Pink does not publish exact category percentages beyond noting moral is smallest.
Source date: 2022-02-08 · Accessed: 2026-04-26