For those who remember, the Concorde was a supersonic passenger jet that flew at Mach 2 from 1976 to 2003. It could fly from New York to London in just under 3 hours.
But the dream outweighed the reality, constantly justifying more investment, engineering effort, and politicking while costs soared and profits sagged. It was a business failure that eventually shut down after 27 years of operations.
In today’s parlance, we call it the sunk cost fallacy. It describes how we make decisions that are against our own best interests because we still dream that somehow, some way, we can still “make it work.”
When I hold the mirror up to myself, I see many examples of decisions that I stubbornly hung on to.
I can see jobs that I stayed in longer than I knew I should.
I can see clients that I worked with longer than I knew I should.
I can see relationships that I stayed committed to longer than I knew I should.
All because of what I had already chosen to give… My resources. My time. My energy.
All sunk costs.
So, I have to look in my own mirror… Why is it so hard to pivot away from these situations? Why is it so hard for many people to step away from sunk costs?
I believe the answer is what I have written about so much on this blog before.
We are addicted. Addicted to success, significance, and/or control.
When we look into our own mirrors, we all make decisions that give us the chance to be successful, significant, and/or establish more control over our current situation. This is normal (though not necessarily in our best interests).
Once we invest our resources into achieving these things (success/significance/control), we then set ourselves up to become afraid. Afraid of failure, afraid of rejection, and/or afraid of risk.
When we are at our best, we recognize the folly of such pursuits. But when we are at our worst – when our desires have become addictions – we make decisions that are against our own best interests.
We dump resource after resource into failing relationships. Into unsatisfying work. Into pursuits that will never end.
If I could, I would rename the sunk cost fallacy as the addiction bias. Like a junkie who would steal from his mother to support a toxic habit, we steal our resources, time, and energy to pour them into our addictive pursuit(s).
But there is good news to be offered. If my hypothesis is true – if the root cause issue of the Concorde fallacy is an intense desire/addiction to be successful, significant, and/or in control – the antidote is simple. Turn all energy towards confidence, acceptance, and trust.
Am I doing my best and it’s still not working? That’s okay. It’s time to move on with peace.
Do I accept myself and can honestly say that I don’t need “this” to accept myself any more? Embrace that and lift my chin with love.
Can I trust that the journey will still end well – even if this chapter has been a hard one? Let go and drift forward into the unknown with hope.
And that, my friend, is where I will leave you. If this blog resonates with you, ponder what I have said. Go back and re-read it. And see if there is a message in your own mirror.
I mua. Onward and upward.
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