What if your biggest career regret isn’t quitting—but staying?
Everyone knows that person—the one who hates their job but deals with it by planning the next big trip. They distract themselves with holidays and leisure activities, easing the emotional burden of career regret. It might be the role they didn’t leave, the raise they didn’t ask for, or the passion they set aside. If this sounds like you, you’re not alone.
Regret is something many of us face. A recent survey by Resume Now found that 66% of workers report career regrets, including not asking for raises, neglecting work-life balance, and staying in a job too long. While this might suggest that regret grows with time, research from VU Amsterdam reveals an unexpected twist: 18 to 25-year-olds report the highest levels of career regret. This finding highlights the importance of addressing regret early—whether due to inexperience or missed opportunities—before it snowballs into something harder to overcome.
But regret itself isn’t the issue; the real question is whether you’re going to do something about it. Research published in 2022 on career choice and occupational regret shows that people respond to career regret in different ways. Some confront their regret directly by changing occupations or pursuing training to enable a transition. Others, however, attempt to ease the emotional burden through distractions like holidays or leisure activities. While distractions might provide temporary relief, they fail to resolve the root cause and can trap you in a cycle of regret.
As we step into a new year—a season of possibility—it’s the perfect time to confront these regrets, learn from them, and turn them into action. Because it’s better to make mistakes—taking action that might not yield the intended outcome—than to live with regret, which is the sense of loss over what could have been. Though painful in the short term, mistakes often lead to better decision-making and more proactive career planning, as they provide clear learning opportunities. For instance, staying too long in a stagnant role is a common regret, but attempting a career pivot that doesn’t work out would be considered a mistake. And interestingly enough, Resume Now’s survey showed more people regret staying at a job than quitting a job.
Actionable Framework: From Regret to Resilience
Regret isn’t inherently negative. It’s an invitation to reflect, prioritize, and act. To transform regret into growth, you can focus on three actionable strategies:
1. Address the Root Cause
Start by identifying the root cause of the regret. Are you dissatisfied because you stayed too long in one role? Or because you chose a career path that didn’t align with your values? A finance professional who felt stuck in her role realized her regret stemmed from neglecting her passion for sustainability. Her reflection helped clarify what needed to change, turning regret into a guide for action and setting the foundation for what would later become a transformative career pivot.
2. Redefine Success
Success isn’t static—it evolves alongside your career and personal priorities. The transforming world of work now offers more freedom to define success in ways that go beyond the traditional corporate ladder of the past. Today, success can include prioritizing what matters most to you—flexibility, fulfillment, learning opportunities, or the ability to integrate personal passions into your professional life. For someone who regrets neglecting work-life balance, success may now mean embracing roles with flexible schedules or remote work options. For someone who stayed in a job too long, it may mean exploring opportunities for growth and development in emerging fields. For the finance professional, redefining success meant acknowledging that incorporating her passion into her life was essential, even if it started as a volunteer effort.
3. Take Small, Intentional Steps
Once you’ve identified the root cause and redefined success, the next step is to act. But action doesn’t mean you have to take bold steps like quitting your job. Small, intentional actions can break the cycle of regret and build momentum for meaningful change. Start by exploring new ways of working, such as portfolio careers, independent roles, or flexible schedules. Whether it’s enrolling in a course, expanding your network, or volunteering in a new field, incremental progress can lead to significant transformation. For the finance professional, small but intentional steps—like volunteering for a nonprofit in her spare time—eventually led to a transition into a finance job at an organization aligned with the nonprofit’s mission. This allowed her to merge her financial expertise with meaningful work that fulfilled her values and aspirations.
The Best Time to Start Is Now
The start of a new year is the perfect opportunity for a career self-assessment. The changing world of work offers more tools than ever to address past regrets and make bold new choices. Flexible work opportunities, such as independent work or portfolio careers, provide ways to diversify income and pursue passions. Flexible schedules accommodate diverse needs, while platforms for continuous learning enable skill development without relying on a single employer. By acting on reflection, you can move past regret and build a career aligned with your values.
Regret may be inevitable, but dwelling on it serves no purpose. Use regret as the spark to rewrite your story. Dream big, take bold steps, and create a future that aligns with your aspirations. This new year is the perfect time to start.
