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Regret Minimisation Framework
Regret Minimisation Framework
Regret Minimisation Framework
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Overview

What potential major life change simultaneously tempts and terrifies you? Got a startup idea you've been too scared to pursue? Want to cha ...

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Est tamen ea secundum naturam multoque nos ad se expetendam magis hortatur quam superiora omnia. Rationis enim perfectio est virtus; Quid ergo attinet dicere: Nihil haberem, quod reprehenderem, si finitas cupiditates haberent? Vos autem cum perspicuis dubia debeatis illustrare, dubiis perspicua conamini tollere. Sic consequentibus vestris sublatis prima tolluntur. An eum discere ea mavis, quae cum plane perdidiceriti nihil sciat? Quod mihi quidem visus est, cum sciret, velle tamen confitentem audire Torquatum. Immo istud quidem, inquam, quo loco quidque, nisi iniquum postulo, arbitratu meo. Sed quoniam et advesperascit et mihi ad villam revertendum est, nunc quidem hactenus; Egone non intellego, quid sit don Graece, Latine voluptas?

Quia dolori non voluptas contraria est, sed doloris privatio. Quo modo autem optimum, si bonum praeterea nullum est? Cur ipse Pythagoras et Aegyptum lustravit et Persarum magos adiit? Ita fit ut, quanta differentia est in principiis naturalibus, tanta sit in finibus bonorum malorumque dissimilitudo. Non enim, si omnia non sequebatur, idcirco non erat ortus illinc. Qua ex cognitione facilior facta est investigatio rerum occultissimarum. Sed videbimus. Praeclare hoc quidem. Quod autem principium officii quaerunt, melius quam Pyrrho; Non igitur potestis voluptate omnia dirigentes aut tueri aut retinere virtutem. Itaque eos id agere, ut a se dolores, morbos, debilitates repellant. At, illa, ut vobis placet, partem quandam tuetur, reliquam deserit.

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Actionable Takeaways
  • Use the Regret Minimisation Framework to challenge fears and doubts

This mental model helps you ...

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Quid autem habent admirationis, cum prope accesseris? Ergo hoc quidem apparet, nos ad agendum esse natos. Fortitudinis quaedam praecepta sunt ac paene leges, quae effeminari virum vetant in dolore. Aliter enim explicari, quod quaeritur, non potest. Qui ita affectus, beatum esse numquam probabis; Obsecro, inquit, Torquate, haec dicit Epicurus? Igitur neque stultorum quisquam beatus neque sapientium non beatus.

Limitations

The Regret Minimisation Framework tends to take an emotive approach to decision making that might lead people to take riskier actions than are advisable. At worst, when not used with other decision making considerations, it might be used to justify hasty or even reckless behaviour. To that point, rather than an considered decision making tool, it might be argued that this framework is more about helping to gain the courage and fortitude to commit to something significant that you know you want but are scared of doing. 

In Practice

Bezos starting Amazon

Bezos described how he left his well paying job and to start Amazon.

“The framework I found, which made the decision incredibly easy, was what I called — which only a nerd would call — a “regret minimisation framework. So I wanted to project myself forward to age 80 and say, “Okay, now I’m looking back on my life. I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have.

“I knew that when I was 80 I was not going to regret having tried this. I was not going to regret trying to participate in this thing called the Internet that I thought was going to be a really big deal. I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried."

Build your latticework
This model will help you to:

The regret minimisation framework is a decision-making approach that would ideally be combined with other decision making process. 

Use the following examples of connected and complementary models to weave regret minimisation framework into your broader latticework of mental models. Alternatively, discover your own connections by exploring the category list above. 

Connected models: 

  • High velocity decisions: other decision making tools from Bezos.
  • Opportunity cost: the regret minimisation framework effectively asks you to ‘live into’ the opportunity cost of inaction. 

Complementary models: 

  • Golden circle: using the framework might help connect with ‘why’.
  • Ikigai: again, the framework might help get in touch with a happier life. 
  • Risk matrix: consider risks likelihood and impact. 

This is a similar concept to the more recent ‘YOLO’, or you only live once’ approach to seizing opportunities.

Origins & Resources

The Regret Minimisation Framework was coined by Jeff Bezos, and described in Brian Christian’s  Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions.

View a short video of Bezos talking about this framework

 

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