- introspection ft. harsehaj
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- sunk cost fallacy
welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.
this publication is a place for me to reflect on productivity, health and tech, and drop unique opportunities in the space right to your inbox daily. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in! 💌
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onto today’s topic: sunk cost fallacy
ever wait hours in a line and feel like just leaving but cant bring yourself to just because of all the time you’ve already dedicated to it?
ever realize 30 minutes into watching a movie that you don’t really enjoy it but still continue to watch it anyways?
this is yet another example of the sunk cost fallacy. we continue wasting our time on a lame movie since we’ve already invested 30 minutes of our time into it. ⏰
simply put, sunk cost fallacy describes our tendency to follow through on something that we’ve already invested heavily in (whether that’s time, money, effort, energy, etc.), even when giving up or leaving is obviously a better idea.
it heavily impacts our decision making since humans are not purely rational decision-makers, and we’re often swayed by our emotions. if we’ve already invested in a choice, we’ll likely feel guilty or regretful if we don’t see it through to the end. 🎬 clearly, this can lead to some negative decisions that translate to impact your whole life.
compromising or enduring just because you’ve already invested time or energy is not a logical thing to do. one example of this is staying in a toxic relationship because you’ve already spent so long with this person.
it’s not all negative though, if you can use this fallacy cleverly, it can become a powerful accountability system. take advantage of your own brain. for example, stick yourself into a gym commitment by purchasing a membership. now, you’ll feel compelled to go because you’ve already invested money into it. 💸
i’ve learned to lessen this fallacy’s influence on my decision-making. i make the conscious choice to leave lines and let go of things i’ve invested time into if they aren’t contributing value or anything positive in my life.
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