Daniel Tse

Sunk Cost Fallacy Check

By

The Trap

Treating past investment (time, effort, relationship capital, the learning curve already climbed) as a reason to continue.

The Reframe

The only relevant question is what the path forward looks like from today, independent of what's already been spent.

Questions to Ask

  • If I were starting fresh today, with no history here, would I choose this path?
  • What forward value does staying actually generate, separate from what I've already put in?
  • What am I actually protecting by staying: future value, or just the discomfort of "wasting" past effort?

How to Use This With Someone

Start here in any stay-or-go decision, before the forward-looking work begins. It clears out backward-looking reasoning so the rest of the conversation is about what's ahead. Ask the questions and let them answer in their own words. Don't hand them the conclusion.

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