Stop Letting Past Investments Trap You

"But I've already put so much into this."

That sentence has kept people in bad relationships, failing businesses, and miserable jobs for years longer than they should have stayed.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: what you've already invested is gone. Staying doesn't get it back. Leaving doesn't waste it. It's already spent either way.

How This Plays Out

In relationships: "We've been together five years, I can't leave now." But those five years are behind you regardless. The question is whether you want to spend the next five years the same way.

In careers: "I spent four years and $80,000 on this degree." That's done. Would you make the same choice today? If not, that's useful information—not a chain.

In projects: "We've invested too much to cancel." This is how companies pour millions into initiatives everyone knows are failing. The professional term is "escalation of commitment." It doesn't sound as noble when you call it that.

Why We Do This

Abandoning an investment feels like admitting failure. It crystallizes the loss. Continuing lets us maintain the fiction that it might still pay off.

We're also wired to finish things. Incomplete tasks create psychological tension. Quitting feels like leaving something undone, even when "done" leads nowhere good.

And there's social pressure. "You spent all that money on law school and now you want to be a chef?" People will judge. But they're not living your life.

The Question That Cuts Through

Ask yourself: "If I had never started this, would I start it today?"

Would you start dating this person today, knowing what you know? Would you enter this field, choose this project, make this commitment?

If the answer is no, your past investment is working against you, not for you.

What Sunk Cost Isn't

Not every decision to stick with something is sunk cost fallacy.

If you're one semester from graduating, finishing makes sense. There's a real milestone ahead with concrete value.

If the situation might genuinely improve and you have evidence for that belief, continuing can be rational.

The fallacy is continuing only because you've already invested, even when the future looks worse than the alternatives.

Moving Forward

What you've spent—in time, money, or emotion—is gone. The only thing you control is what happens next.

Sometimes the bravest thing is to walk away from something you've invested in heavily. Not because the investment was wrong, but because continuing it is.

Letting go of sunk costs isn't giving up. It's giving yourself permission to make the best decision available to you now.