Sunk costs: It might be time to move on
Have you ever held on to something simply because you paid “a lot” for it?
Have you ever stayed in a job simply because you had “too much invested” in it?
Recently, I bought a pair of shoes that were uncomfortable. They were a bad purchase, but I kept wearing them so I didn’t “waste the money that I spent.”
This phenomenon is called the sunk-cost bias. It’s our tendency to continue investing in a losing or unpleasant, proposition because of what it’s already cost us. There is a feeling in our society that “winners never quit and quitters never win” so we stick things out until the end. In fact, winners quit all the time, they just know the right things to quit and the right things to stick with.
Author Seth Godin wrote the book “The Dip.” In it, he challenges the notion that we must “never quit.” He reasons that we only have so much time, energy and money to take advantage of better opportunities in any number of areas. In his words, you have to recognize whether you are running into a wall or simply experiencing a “dip,” a temporary setback that can be overcome with persistence bringing great reward.
The sunk-cost bias is something I see all the time with fitness clients who are stuck. The most common scenario is that they will stick with a plan even when it is no longer effective because of all the time, effort and cost they’ve already put into it. When that happens, stagnation sets in and backsliding begins. If you’ve been repeating the same workout for more than four weeks, you’re likely in this position.
“Sunk costs” can be measured in dollars, time and even commitment.
Either way, they are costs that have been incurred in the past and are irrelevant for future decision-making. They cannot be changed. What they should really be measured against are “opportunity costs” — profits (or success) that can be realized by selecting one alternative over another. It is the net return that could be realized if a resource were put to its next best use.
For example, I had a client come to me for a consultation. She was desperate to get into better shape and was stuck and
frustrated by her lack of progress. She had recently paid for an expensive, non-refundable package of training sessions with another fitness professional. She soon realized they were a bad match and she was getting little out of her sessions. After sticking it out for a frustrating couple of months so as not to “waste” her money, she came to see me.
With a new plan and a renewed commitment, I helped her to move forward and achieve her goals in a short amount of time. Had she “stuck it out” to the end of her prepaid package, she would have been even more frustrated and further from her desired outcome.
In the world of health and fitness it is easy to get hung up on the day-to-day grind of “working out” and eating right and to lose sight of our long-term goals. We get preoccupied by how much time and effort (or money) we put into something and forget its relevance in the greater scheme of things. In other words, we get attached to the means and forget about the ends while we try to justify our current actions.
If you have been stuck in “physio” forever with no real progress, it’s probably time to try a new approach toward healing.
On the other hand, if you just never seem to get anywhere no matter how hard you work in the gym … it might be time to move outside your comfort zone and find a new program.
Remember your long-term goal and make an honest assessment of how your current approach is working toward getting you there. Are you in a “dip” or staring at a wall?
Success might be right around the corner if you would only change direction.