Have you heard of the sunk cost fallacy? It usually refers to money, but can also be applied to time. It’s when you’ve already spent a lot of money or time on an effort, say a new business idea, that you’ve realized is not going to be viable. Most people will continue putting more time or money into the effort because of the amount of resources already “sunk” into the cause. This is a fallacy, because that money is already gone and spending more to try to salvage the project is not necessarily going to save it, it’s just going to sink more money.
This can be true for less critical areas, too, such as watching a movie, reading a book, or taking a course. I often struggle with this specifically with books, though, because I don’t want to give up on a book before it has given me a chance to prove whether it’s worth it or not.
At what point would you give up on a book?
I was reading one recently that I was really slugging through. I realized that it was keeping me from books I actually wanted to read. Why was I forcing myself to finish it? I keep track of pages read in GoodReads, and it felt like the pages I’d gotten through were a waste of effort if I didn’t finish the book - but the truth was that the time was already gone, it was a sunk cost, and reading the rest of the book wasn’t going to bring them back - it was actually just going to make me waste twice as much time.
What is something you’re slugging through that it’s time to let go of? A TV show? A tradition? A business effort that is no longer serving you? What will you do with the time you free up instead?
