Sunken Costs

Seth Godin, a daily blogger who I’ve followed for a long while now, talks about ignoring the “Sunken Costs”.

The thought is that the money and effort we spent on doing something yesterday, should not have a bearing on the decisions we make about tomorrow.

For instance, I could spend a lot of time training to become a lawyer. But at some point along the way, maybe a few years into doing the job, I realise that I’m not cut out for it. It’s not making me happy and I’m not contributing as much as I think I could elsewhere.

But….I had put so much effort in! I committed so much! It cost me time and energy!

To walk away would be such a waste, surely?

It shouldn’t matter. There is no “lost time”. Because everything we do is a learning process and can feed, in all kinds of obvious or obscure ways, into how we approach the next thing. Into doing tomorrow better.

As long as we are brave enough, sometimes, to just let go, when something has run its course.

It’s a hard lesson to learn.