The Truth About Commitment

Have you ever started to watch a movie and realised you don’t like it partway through?  However, since you have already watched part of it, often you will finish watching it because you don’t want to feel like you wasted the initial time spent. 

Often people will do this with books and television series as well.  They don’t want to feel like they wasted their time so rather than just stopping they finish the book or series.  They use language like: “I am already committed,” or “I have gone this far,” or “I have already invested this much time.”

Sunk Cost Fallacy

This is known as the Sunk Cost Fallacy.  It is our tendency to include the value of past costs in a future decision or trade-off.

We all do it at some points in our lives.  Movies, television shows, books, jobs, schools.  We feel that if we have already invested our resources in something that we should finish it or the past costs are wasted.

This is often completely untrue and can hurt our decision making.  The truth is much simpler.  There are very few situations where we should commit “good money after bad” and instead stop what we are doing and move on.

Are You Still Driving Your First Car?

You do not have to commit to something long term, particularly if it is something with no long-term repercussions, like a movie, a book, a car or an exercise program.  It is very unlikely that you are driving the car that you learned to drive on-and no one expects you to only drive that car for the rest of your life.

The Beauty of Short Trials

One of the most effective things to do before committing to something is to do a short trial to see if you like something.  This can be done with many different things like books and movies, of course, but also with school programs, exercise programs and even jobs.  Many people do an internship or volunteer program in a particular career to see if they like it.  That way you can change your mind if it is something that does not appeal to you or if you find something you like more.

Want to Rather Than Have to

Instead of thinking that you are committed to something because you have spent time and resources on it, try to see if changing your mind and walking away from it might be better.  Having this more open mind in addition to using short trials and allowing yourself to change course can lead to much more fulfilling experiences that you want to do rather then feel like you have to do.