Regret can be a very strong motivator. Cold retrospective analysis does not guarantee that the lesson will be imprinted in the consciousness. If you do regret s

Regret can be a very strong motivator. Cold retrospective analysis does not guarantee that the lesson will be imprinted in the consciousness. If you do regret something though, chances that you repeat the same mistake again are much smaller than if you just analysed the old situation. You can look at the opposite of regret - say you really like doing something (for example - programming) - you will be doing it much better (via motivation) than if you just decided to do it because it is worth doing it (ie. via cold analysis of the potential outcome like good pay in the future).