This is not the article that I meant to write—there is a different idea screaming at me to come out—but this is the one that won me over on the walk I just took. Hopefully, there is time within the day to let both ideas make a crash landing onto the screen.
People need to be more willing to uncommit to ideas, plans, and goals. The more time and effort you’ve put into a goal, the more you learn about it, and the more you’ll know whether or not it is a worthwhile goal to stick to.
The most obvious example where I see people accidentally wasting their time is in finishing a bad book. There is no shame in cutting a book short. You don’t have to give it a chance. You are under no obligation to finish it. If it seems unlikely to keep you entertained for the next 250 pages, wouldn’t you be better off throwing it away and finding the book that does?
Perhaps a friend recommended the book to you, and so you feel you owe it to them to finish it. Perhaps they even bought it for you and gifted it to you for your birthday, so you feel extra obligated to give them a review. Well, don’t. I don’t believe a good friend would want an accidentally bad gift to also accidentally take more of your time than you are happy to give to it (plus, if you can have the honest conversation with them about the gift at some point, you also teach them what a great gift for you would look like—a win-win for the depth of your friendship).
If it’s a nonfiction book, start with the table of contents and read only the chapters that seem interesting to you. Do not feel obligated to read every page. Go in with the intention of learning something.
If it’s a fiction book—which asks you to read every page and be part of every moment to see its beauty—and you don’t find it worthwhile after the first several chapters, then put the book down. Unless someone gave you the caveat, “The first 60 pages are super dry, but after that you won’t be able to stop.”
Of course, there is a balance to be struck between knowing when to push on and when to let go and redirect. Sometimes you will let go too soon. Be okay with that. You’ll get better over time. However, never letting go makes you prey to the Sunk Cost Fallacy.
The Sunk Cost Fallacy is finishing a bad movie because you’ve already sunk an hour of your time into it; it is not breaking up with someone when you should’ve because you’ve already been dating for two years so you might as well keep going; it is overeating at a buffet past the point of enjoyment because you felt you had to end with an empty plate or “get your money’s worth” (in fairness, this is me every time 😂); it is not knowing when to cut your losses.
Sometimes the Sunk Cost Trap helps hold you to goals which you ought to continue pursuing, but this is rare. More often, it is the fear of failure that rips you from a goal than the “I’ve been working at this for so long so I should just keep trying” that keeps you to your goal.
One response to “The Article I Didn’t Mean to Write”
This is me, too! I guess part of it also comes from fear of being a “quitter” …. even if the only person paying attention is yourself 🤣