Sunk Cost Fallacy

The tendency to continue investing in something because of previously invested resources, even when it's no longer rational to do so.

We hate feeling like our past investments were wasted. Stopping feels like admitting failure, so we keep going to justify what we've already spent.

• Finishing a terrible movie because you already paid for the ticket.
• Staying in a failing relationship because you've been together for years.
• A company continuing a doomed project because millions were already spent on it.

• Ask: 'If I were starting fresh today, would I make this same choice?'
• Focus on future value, not past investment.
• Recognize that cutting losses early is a sign of wisdom, not failure.
• Set pre-defined criteria for when to quit before starting a project.