The Cost of Not Trying

I was watching a Tiktok by one of my favorite creators this morning (@tanukikim), and he said something that imprinted on me. He said that we regret things more from inaction than from failure. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

Think about all the things you have ever wanted to do. Taking a chance on further education. Traveling abroad. Starting a business. Telling someone how you feel. Investing in something you believe in. When you actually try and fail, it hurts in the moment, but that feeling fades. What does not fade as easily is the regret of not trying at all.

When you do not act, you are left with questions. What if I had tried? What if it worked out? What if it changed my life? Those questions linger. They do not give you closure. Instead, they grow over time and turn into a quiet but constant sense of missed opportunity.

You see this in people all the time. There are people who look back on their lives and wonder what could have been if they had taken a different path. Maybe they stayed in a job they did not love. Maybe they never pursued a dream they cared about. The regret is not always loud, but it is there, shaped by all the chances they never took.

On the other hand, when you take action and fail, the outcome is clear. You tried. It did not work. You learn from it and move forward. Failure may leave a scar, but inaction leaves a question mark. And that question mark is often harder to live with.

I think the reason inaction hurts more is because it keeps the outcome unknown. It allows you to imagine a perfect version of what could have happened. In your mind, everything works out. Everything goes right. And because you never tested it in reality, that imagined version stays untouched. It becomes easy to believe that things could have been better if only you had tried.

So the question becomes, how do you move from inaction to action?

It starts with shifting your mindset from what if to what now. Instead of thinking about what you could have done in the past, focus on what you can do today. Write it down. Break it into smaller steps. Take action, even if it feels uncomfortable.

Fear is often what holds people back. The fear of failure, embarrassment, or things not working out. But even fear can be used as a signal. If something matters enough to scare you, it probably matters enough to try.

There is a lovely mantra from Dune movies and books that says:

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

The idea is not that fear disappears, but that you move through it instead of letting it stop you.

You do not have to take massive steps. Start small. Small actions create momentum. They give you clarity. They reduce the weight of uncertainty. And most importantly, they move you forward.

At the end of the day, it is better to try and fail than to never try at all. Failure teaches you something. It gives you an answer. Inaction only leaves you with questions that may never go away.