Sunk cost refers to money, time, or resources that have already been spent and are unrecoverable. In the business world, sunk costs are not considered when making future decisions. That’s because they don’t matter for current and future budget calculations.
In our personal lives however, sunk cost often have an emotional toll that affects our future decisions in a very real way.
On Before the 90 Days, season 4, David goes to Ukraine for the 5th time to try to meet his girlfriend Lana. Each time, Lana has stood him up either no response or a weird excuses (medical operation, death in the family)
At this point his friends are all screaming at him to stop. But David is stubborn and insists that they’re in love. At this point he has spent $100k on this relationship over the last 7 years.
To us viewers on the outside, the money and time invested is or sure sunk cost. David is unable to let go.
Watching this kind of shows can be helpful if you examine your own life. Is there sunk costs in your life that you are emotionally attached to? Have you spent time, energy, or money on something that if you stop, you’d get the feeling that it was “all for nothing”?