A farmer wins the lottery, and a reporter and asks what he’s going to do. His reply, “I guess I’ll just keep farming until it’s all gone”
A few notes and thoughts. This is just a big one. In economics and business decision-making, sunk cost refers to the cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. The problem is, we become emotionally attached to items we have, and refuse to let them go. Our decisions are tainted by the emotional investments we accumulate, and the more you invest in something the harder it becomes to abandon it. Though, an economic concept most usually related to investments, it can refer to anything we have dedicated our time and resources to — a project, a person…. Many times rather than cut ties, we find ourselves doubling down — “throwing good money after bad”. With rigorous honesty we unemotionally gain clarity, knowing when to let go and furthermore with awareness and perspective one can also find important reasons and lessons as to why the items creating the sunk cost was unsuccessful, leading to new approaches using it as a mechanism to fail forward rather than emotionally regretting it not letting go.