It's very hard to give up what we know to chase something new.
I recently did an exercise to visualize my future 10 years out.
The hardest part about this was letting go of my own "sunk cost" fallacy.
The fallacy (aka big fat lies we tell ourselves): a false belief that we must utilize what currently exists because we have ‘paid’ for it. It’s rooted in having a scarcity mindset around money or time. We believe that we cannot just wastefully let go of what already exists.
It’s helpful to look at money and time separately when dismantling a sunk cost belief. Today, let’s talk about money. Specifically, the money we invest in our careers.
Money $$$$$
Shout out to Tim Ferriss for gifting me this gem: “You don’t have to recover the money in the same way you lost it.”
Example: Lost money on a real estate investment? Rather than trying to hold out for a better sale….let it go now. Take the loss. Then go make your money back in something that brings you joy or may just have a better ROI. Start a new business, a side hustle, sell a valuable possession. Anything. The possibilities are endless.
Limiting the recovery of a sunk cost to one methodology is short sighted and highly restrictive.
This is relevant to professional reinvention because we spend a lot of money on degrees, certifications and training. You may feel indebted to the current method of earning money.
But I’ll repeat Tim’s sage advice: you can recoup that expense any way you want. There's no-one policing your work.
For me, this looked like letting go of my career as a CPA.
So much time and money spent.
But I chose to believe that this expense was an investment in my ability to earn money any way I want.
I’ve since made more money and had more fun than I ever would have if I’d clung to a belief that I needed to be a CPA.
What’s a sunk cost you can’t let go of? How significant is that cost?
How quickly could you make that money back elsewhere and be happier as a result?????
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