People often hesitate to quit unworthy endeavors, primarily influenced by the sunk cost fallacy. This fallacy leads individuals to factor in prior investments when deciding to continue or cease an endeavor. Consequently, people find it difficult to stop pursuing something that may no longer be worthwhile. This influence can affect fields as varied as finance and personal goals. Additionally, confronting and accepting unflattering truths about luck can lead to better decision-making in the future.
When we think about the work of Danny Kahneman and others on cognitive biases, a whole bunch of them could really be described as biases against stopping things.
The most famous of them is the sunk cost fallacy, which is that we take into account the resources that we've put into something when deciding whether to continue on.
When we push through that discomfort and are able to accept unflattering truths, research shows we actually report being happier on that other side.
It's just better when we accept the role that luck plays. It will help our future decisions, too.
Collection
[
|
...
]