All negative emotions have at least some positive purpose. Doubt, for example, can signal that our commitment level is too low or the decision to act has not been clearly made.
However, most of us have learned to hang on to the negatives long after their valuable usage. We get stuck in a spiral of negatives that are then joined by others.
In business, the negative emotion that shows up frequently is regret. ‘I shouldn’t have said that to my boss. I shouldn’t have made that error. Because I messed up, I’m a rotten employee or boss or spouse or child or parent or whatever.’
Regret sucks energy and blocks forward momentum. It is a thought pattern that takes you from a chance to learn from your mistakes for creating future success to a dark and nasty quagmire that keeps you locked in the past.
Action – Write down your top 5 regrets. What do you need to do or say to yourself or someone else to release each of them? Talk to a confidante, counselor or coach and get these gone!
Regret is a complete waste of energy. As Katherine Mansfield said, “you can’t build on it, it’s only good for wallowing in.”