Quotes from Daniel H. Pink

At the heart of all boldness regrets is the thwarted possibility of growth. The failure to become the person—happier, braver, more evolved—one could have been. The failure to accomplish a few important goals within the limited span of a single life.

Regrets in this subcategory weren't limited to childhood malice. People described insulting work colleagues, "ghosting" romantic interests, and threatening neighbors. Most hurts were delivered with words, though a few were with fists. And for all the American associations of behavior like bullying, these regrets were international.

A life of obligation and no opportunity is crimped. A life of opportunity and no obligation is hollow. A life that fuses opportunity and obligation is true.

One source of frustration in the workplace is the frequent mismatch between what people must do and what people can do. When what they must do exceeds their capabilities, the result is anxiety. When what they must do falls short of their capabilities, the result is boredom. (Indeed, Csikszentmihalyi titled his first book on autotelic experiences Beyond Boredom and Anxiety.)

Treat everyone as you'd treat your grandmother, but assume that Grandma has eighty thousand Twitter followers.

The most deeply motivated people—not to mention those who are most productive and satisfied—hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves. Motivation

Remember your Abraham Maslow and your Viktor Frankl. Bet your business on it.

What's more, the regrets people expressed were less about renouncing the group than falling short of one's obligations to it.

A little kid's life bursts with autotelic experiences.

4. Subversion The fewest moral regrets involved the Authority/Subversion foundation. A handful of people regretted "dishonoring my parents" and "being disrespectful to my teachers

Routine, not-so-interesting jobs require direction; nonroutine, more interesting work depends on self-direction.

As Haidt writes in The Righteous Mind, the moral foundation of loyalty helps groups cement bonds and form coalitions. It shows "who is a team player and who is a traitor, particularly when your team is fighting with other teams.

Being pessimistic is almost always a recipe for low levels of what psychologists call "subjective well-being." It's also a detriment in most professions. But as Martin Seligman has written, "There is one glaring exception: pessimists do better at law.

Desecration Regrets about violating sanctity were more numerous than regrets about subverting authority. These regrets were also emotionally intense—especially when they centered on one of the most fiercely contested issues of the last sixty years: abortion.

He regrets not having "the experience of hardship and sacrifice," of depending on others for survival and of their relying on him. "If you're serving someone, it means you're not serving yourself

A fifty-year-old woman in Arkansas said: I had an abortion at age twenty. That is the biggest regret of my life. My second-biggest regret is that I had another one at age twenty-five.

second reason: Most other enterprises are positive-sum. If I sell you something you want and enjoy, we're both better off. Law, by contrast, is often (though not always) a zero-sum game: Because somebody wins, somebody else must lose.

The growing recognition of empathy's role in healing is one reason why nursing will be one of the key professions of the Conceptual Age workforce.

These regrets were partly about harm, but they were bigger than that: a belief that the actions amounted to a degradation of the very sanctity of life.

But the third reason might offer the best explanation of all—and help us understand why so few attorneys exemplify Type I behavior. Lawyers often face intense demands but have relatively little "decision latitude.

But if you instead ask, "Can I make a great pitch?" the research has found that you provide yourself something that reaches deeper and lasts longer

A fifty-eight-year-old woman in Puerto Rico regretted: Having an abortion. Having to say I'm sorry when I meet him/her in Heaven.

Mastery is a mindset: It requires the capacity to see your abilities not as finite, but as infinitely improvable. Mastery is a pain: It demands effort, grit, and deliberate practice. And mastery is asymptote: It's impossible to fully realize, which makes it simultaneously frustrating and alluring.

Boldness regrets sound like this: If only I'd taken the risk.