June 17, 2024

Imagine this, someone studied finance for 4 years. After 2 years of traineeship, this person realizes it is not what they want their lives to look like. They don’t want to wake up in 10 years and dread going to work. So this person has two options. Number one: to continue working the job they hate because they’ve invested time and money already (sunk cost fallacy). Number two: to build up some savings and quit the job they hate. Which one would you choose?

Sunk cost fallacy

Choosing number one in the previous paragraph is not that strange. There is a thing called the sunk cost fallacy. Asana describes this as

"our tendency to continue with an endeavor we've invested money, effort, or time into—even if the current costs outweigh the benefits." 

Now, this mindset can keep us down in many aspects of life. Think about it, when a business has made a big investment but after a while, it has been made clear that there is no profit to be made. It wouldn’t make sense to continue with that project. So why would you continue with a project in your personal life?

Don’t look back, you’re not going that way

The first thing people would do is regret the choices they’ve made. “Why did I choose that specialty? I am so stupid.” But, why would you want to look back? The time has already passed and there is nothing you can change. So have no regrets but also don’t hold yourself back just because you have made the “wrong” choice in the past.

Take what you need

The best thing you can do is learn from that situation. So what if you are choosing a different path now? You can take all the previous experience with you. In your professional career, you would be much needed in a different sector because you bring new knowledge to that environment. You see things from a different perspective and you add value to the company. You can take the experience and expertise with you and apply it to another field.

Allow space for other things to grow

Once you are ready to turn the page and try something new, you must allow space for it. That means you must let other things go to make physical and mental space for new opportunities to arise.

Image: Unsplash, Alwi Alaydrus