#44 Sunk cost fallacy
I made a hard decision this week and it reminded me of this concept from economics.
The sunk cost fallacy is essentially the idea that previous investment justifies further expenditure. Whilst usually framed in terms of financial investment and expenditure it applies equally to other resources such as our time and energy. We are prone to thinking that because we have spent our money/time/energy on something we should continue to continue to do so. When actually we’d be better off calling it quits.
Now, there is of course nuance here and there are things we can’t just walk away from. But sometimes it’s OK to call it a day.
And that’s what I decided to do this week when I found out that I had failed the observation element of my coaching apprenticeship assessment, having found out the week before that I had failed the portfolio interview. Whilst I’ve had, and continue to be offered, tremendous support from the training provider and colleagues, I’ve decided to not resit the assessments.
I have invested a lot of time and energy into the training, including much of it in my evenings and weekends for the last 6 months. But that effort hasn’t, and won’t, go to waste as I will continue to put the training into practice, I wasn’t counting on getting the qualification for my career, and not getting the qualification doesn’t detract from the positive impact my coaches tell me I’ve had.
I could get through the assessments with the expenditure of more time and energy, but both are in short supply right now and I don’t have what will be needed to resit. I’ve made my peace with that decision, as hard as it is, recognising that my capability is not the same as my capacity. (Thank you to C for the reminder.)
