{"id":122810,"date":"2024-02-03T13:34:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T17:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=122810"},"modified":"2024-02-09T11:46:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T15:46:09","slug":"how-to-avoid-regret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Regret By Building Good Habits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Do you know how to avoid regret? What is the best way to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-habits\/\">break bad habits<\/a> that cause it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To avoid regret, recognize and fix bad habits before they grow and develop further. Bad habits lead to the worst regret because they\u2019re decisions that we make repeatedly over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to see why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/building-good-habits\/\">forming good habits<\/a> is so important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-where-does-regret-come-from\">Where Does Regret Come From?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We easily fall into habits that can harm us, and we regret it later<\/strong>. When we indulge our bad ideas repeatedly, we make the same poor decision so many times that a small vice becomes a harmful habit or even an addiction. Imagine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/make-a-habit\/\">making a habit<\/a> of leaving major projects unfinished until the night before the deadline: You\u2019ll likely end up letting your colleagues down and hurting your reputation at the office. Similarly, if you fall into the addictive pattern of spending hours scrolling through social media at night, you\u2019ll find it harder to be present with your family and miss out on time with the people you love. These decisions seem small in the moment, but they add up to habits that are hard to break, and learning how to avoid regret requires an honest look at these cycles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: It\u2019s surprisingly easy to form bad habits. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-power-of-habit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Power of Habit<\/em><\/a>, Charles Duhigg explains that every habit starts with a <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-power-of-habit\/part-1#habits-begin-with-a-conscious-decision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">conscious decision<\/a> you make to fulfill a need or act on a motivation. Over time, as you make the same decision over and over, your brain stores it as an <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-power-of-habit\/part-1#why-bad-habits-are-difficult-to-break\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">automatic pattern of behavior<\/a>, creating a habit. As Duhigg explains it, habits enable the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/methods-of-decision-making-crucial-conversations\/\">decision-making<\/a> part of the brain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/03\/05\/147192599\/habits-how-they-form-and-how-to-break-them\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to work less<\/a>, and this switch away from conscious decision-making can make habits challenging to break. Duhigg says that if you want to break a habit, you should figure out what triggers it and what function it serves. Then you\u2019ll be able to see why you formed the habit and work to replace it with a healthier response.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We tend to tell ourselves that we want something<\/strong>\u2014to have a material object, to hold onto a relationship, or to keep indulging in a harmful habit\u2014<strong>and that it\u2019s OK to go for it, even when we know better<\/strong>. That\u2019s because we\u2019re great at deceiving ourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you know how to avoid regret? What is the best way to break bad habits that cause it? To avoid regret, recognize and fix bad habits before they grow and develop further. Bad habits lead to the worst regret because they\u2019re decisions that we make repeatedly over time. Keep reading to see why forming good habits is so important.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":122811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,42,43],"tags":[1397],"class_list":["post-122810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-motivation","category-self-improvement","tag-better-decisions-fewer-regrets","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Avoid Regret By Building Good Habits - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learning how to avoid regret means taking an honest look at your habits. 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Here\u2019s why forming better habits is key to avoiding regret.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-03T17:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-09T15:46:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/woman-streching-in-bed.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Becca King\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Becca King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Becca King\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a98d1f6c931222c11a5c5d087f3376fe\"},\"headline\":\"How to Avoid Regret By Building Good Habits\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-03T17:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-09T15:46:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/\"},\"wordCount\":399,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/woman-streching-in-bed.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Better Decisions Fewer Regrets\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Motivation\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/\",\"name\":\"How to Avoid Regret By Building Good Habits - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-regret\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/woman-streching-in-bed.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-03T17:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-09T15:46:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"Learning how to avoid regret means taking an honest look at your habits. 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