So you got the job. Now what? Join me, Eleni Mata, on HBR's new original podcast, New

Here, the Young Professionals Guide to Work, and how to make it work for you. Listen for

free wherever you get your podcasts. Just search New Here. See you there!

Welcome to the HBR idea cast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Ellison Beard.

I wish I didn't worry about what other people think. I regret pretending to be less smart

than I actually am simply to please others. I regret following a career path for money

instead of for my passion. I regret putting my life on display for so long on social media.

I wish I had tried harder to foster deeper relationships with my work colleagues.

I regret ignoring my inner voice and not heaving its plea to be more adventurous, like moving

to a different country or changing jobs when the boss sucked.

I regret not being kinder. I was too concerned with being right.

I regret every big decision I've ever made.

In case you hadn't guessed, today's episode is all about regrets. Why we have them, the

most common kinds, and how to not only get past them, but maybe also harness them for good.

Our guest is bestselling author Dan Pink, and the quotes you just heard are from a big study

he did, asking people all over the world to write in and tell him about their biggest regrets.

His latest book, based on that research and the work of many others, is called The Power

of Regret, how looking backward moves us forward. Dan, I'm so happy to dig into this with you today.

So let's start with the basics. What is regret? And why do we humans feel it so very often?

Two very important questions. So regret is an emotion. It's a negative emotion,

and it's a backward-looking emotion. So we feel bad when we look backward and say to ourselves,

if only, that's the catchphrase, if only I had decided differently, taken a different path,

...