Yep. It is understanding that the sunk cost fallacy is not just about business decisions but is also very relevant in our personal lives.
The freakonomics podcast did a great episode on the subject.
Hell, even Kenny Rogers wrote a song about it.
You’ve got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
Poker player Annie Duke has a book on this, it’s worth the read.
Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away
This reply is as wholesome as the post that got it started.
While this is probably true, the unspoken assumption is that you have some kind of safety net that allows you to take that risk.
I would argue that: People who have the luxury to quit when things don’t work out tend to win at life, not because they quit, but because they had the luxury in the first place.
Some of us quit even without the safety net
Is it stupid? Absolutely. I didn’t have white hairs before I did that, stress was insane.
Did it work out? After almost a year, yes.
Was it worth it? Also yes
It’s not necessarily having the means to do so immediately, but having the ability to make it work ANYWAY, and having the mental fortitude and strength of will to live through what can only be described as a living hell of stress
I’m aware there are many people that will never work for, but more probably can than they think
It’s definitely important to know when to quit, but it’s also important to know when to fight. For example, I’m in the tech industry working for a AAA videogame company. I could leave, but I’m in a luxurious position where I don’t get harassed or put in dangerous situations. I also know that the rest of the tech industry is full of the same bullshit. So, I’m choosing to instead fight back and change the status quo.
Good luck, I hope you succeed. I know that changing jobs in the industry can be a case of out of the frying pan.
But personally, I have found that organisational culture is really hard to change.
It sure as hell is, which is why I’m not alone! We will be a huge union in tech when we go public, we’ll also have a ton of bargaining power.
That’s super cool, I hope it works out and inspires more in the industry to Unionize.
So, I’m choosing to instead fight back and change the status quo.
Fight what? Why would you want to fight a luxurious position where you don’t get harassed?
There are a lot of issues. I’m not personally experiencing harassment, but several coworkers have. We’re way underpaid in the industry, we’re especially fighting against RTO, and communication from management is awful. Retaliation is common. The company has been engaging in illegal union busting. We have a lot to fight against.
Oh… some of those issues you outlined (like retaliation and harassment) are illegal. If someone can prove that it’s happening then they can sue, and win. I hope things get better for you and your coworkers. Nobody should have to face harassment at work.
Can you refer me for a job. I am a dev manager with a decade of experience. And I’m a Marxist. I lead the change from within. Looking because RTO only benefits shiity managers.
I’d love to bring in a salt, but unfortunately we’re on a hiring freeze and have mandated hybrid
Worth a try. In Montreal?
I have walked out of damn near every job I’ve had so far, always when they think that attempting to screw me is a good idea
“Oh, you’re one of our best drivers, flawless record, history of cleaning up other drivers messes, and we even specifically called you to hire you back after you left because we knew we could trust you? We’re gonna file this blown oil filter as an accident that was your fault, no raise for you this year”
Got into a literal shouting match with my ex boss after that one, holy fuuuuuck
Yup, it sucks being a genuinely passionate and hard worker, because that just means that inevitably, they’re going to try and take advantage of you. And then you’ve gotta quit, because there’s no coming back from that. It’s happened to me twice and I’m seeing the early warning signs at my current job
It kinda sounds like you are the problem ngl
Lol, nah
Have you ever heard the adage “If someone is an asshole, they’re an asshole, if everyone is an asshole, you’re the asshole”. Its sort of like that
Did I say they were being assholes in general, or that they did asshole things in specific?
Some examples:
AC breaking in the middle of summer, causing the store to be over 100F and refusing to even call the repairman for 2 days. Left on the spot when offered an interview at a different place when the manager saw our conditions.
Being told I was to get a promotion only to have it taken away a week later AFTER my replacement for my current role has been hired due to petty office drama bullshit (some other manager didn’t like me and whined to the CEO, his brother). Was offered a worse replacement temp job as a pity, walked instead.
I’ve told this one on Lemmy before I think, might have been a diff acct tho: boss with anger management issues earlier this year got red in the face and yelled at me for not emptying a trash can that did not exist. When pressed on the issue he just got madder and in my face. CO workers confirmed via text that no trash can in the area described had any trash at all in it. I just got in my car and left
You’ll notice the running theme here is that something us done to me that is unreasonable. Most places I’ve worked love me right up until I don’t take being fucked over. Then suddenly they “don’t know why I’m angry” and am “making a stupid decision” (said by a job I’d replaced literally later that afternoon lol)
NGL, I had you pegged as entirely plausible from the start. People try on bullshit and mostly do it more in disadvantageous situations.
cops if my quick
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People really underestimate how much the sunk cost fallacy can derail your life. Don’t waste time. A year becomes 10 very fast.
A year becomes 10 very fast.
To quote those great 20th century philosophers, Pink Floyd.
And then one day you find.
10 years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run.
You missed the starting gun.
They also give the best reason to fight against procrastination:
Long you live and high you fly And smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry And all you touch and all you see Is all your life will ever be
To be fair, I have noticed this with people that I know that became successful. They were always super quick to turn the tables over in a neg situation. It takes a toll though.
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Is this a meme?
We are breeding an entire generation of failures. People who cant take any negative criticism and cant accept that sometimes they need to try harder. This ‘just quit’ mentality is toxic and degenerative.
Edit: To answer the guy who commented but erased their post. I wasnt talking specifically about the workplace. I was more broadly talking about picking something up and not sticking to it because reasons 1, 2, and 3.
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Hmm let’s do the math real quick:
If I leave the table now, I’m garaunteed to lose $7,200
If I keep playing, I have a 50% chance (either I will or I won’t) to earn a billion gajillion dollars.
But yeah, quitting is for “winners” 🤣🤣
If I keep playing, I have a 50% chance (either I will or I won’t) to earn a billion gajillion dollars.
Let me guess you were also a frequent visitor to wallstreetbets and other such fantasy subs…
Yeah, if it’s 50% then I’d take the bet but the game is never that generous. As they say, the house always wins.
Casinos are proof that the gamblers fallacy is true and that most players are optimists at best and delusional at worst.
Or as it was said in something I read years ago:
When you sit down at a poker table there are always more optimists playing than statisticians. Just be sure you know which one you are.
Only bet I ever won was the only one I ever really took, because I knew I couldn’t lose. I was discussing Colombia with someone (we’d both been there) and they forgot Colombia has both an Atlantic and a Pacific coastline. We bet on it, and since I know world geography on the continental scale nearly by heart, I won the bet.
I wouldn’t have even taken that bet if I had a 75% chance of winning, because I bet $100 but was broke. Never bet on even the slightest uncertainty if you can’t afford to pay, it’s not worth it. Fortunately, I’d been to both over both coasts of Colombia on planes, seen Colombia on all sorts of maps and globes, and reality is consistent enough that coastlines on a map don’t change until the real world changes first plus a delay to update the maps, and internet failure would just mean the bet was off. I had basically no chance of failure and the guy would have been pretty patient in the 0.0000000~0001% chance a freak accident occurred.
Obviously nothing is guaranteed, but if your chance of winning is lower than your chance of dying or having your life permanently ruined if you lose, you’re better off walking away. And that’s why I never liked the Golden Saucer type games in Pokémon and Neopets, one spin really is just one spin for me, win or lose, because if I don’t win the first time on a luck based “game” then I see it for what it is… an obvious con.
Every gamble is 50/50. Let me walk you through it, smoothie
I put down $100 that XYZ will happen.
In this scenario, either XYZ will or will not happen. All potential outcomes are defined in those two possibilities.
Ergo, no matter the specifics of the bet, I will always have a 50% chance of winning.
Sorry liberals, papa’s got some money to make down at the Ca$hino
Oh boy I really hope you’re trolling, otherwise you need to retake some math classes
If you’re doing it only once, pick whatever option feels right. If you’re in these situations all the time, you really got to read about expected value. Statistics and probabilities can be very counterintuitive.
