Oh, just (don’t) keep on going…
Most people keep at it way past the point of craziness. There’s a process in your mind that doesn’t let you stop (so easily)…
There always comes a point when you need to get out, but when you do that entirely depends on how rational you are. Let’s run some scenarios:
You are in a movie theater watching a movie that sucks thirty minutes in. Do you walk out or continue watching the movie? A big majority of people continue sitting and watching (and cursing aloud or otherwise). Why? Because, they paid for it, they got dressed for it and drove all the way down to the theater (in that traffic). Speaking of driving…
You are driving down a road, but you take a wrong turn. Just over half way on the wrong road, you realize your mistake. Do you continue, searching for the next exit for course-correction, or do you take the first U-turn and go back? Again, most people (and in this example, it includes me), continue further in search of the next exit. Talking of exits:
You are in a bad relationship. It is hollow, shallow and it doesn’t fulfill you. Some people I know continue (in hope) in the relationship trying to make it work when they know it isn’t just going to. And here’s the kicker that you might relate to:
You start a business. It doesn’t work. You ought to shut it down ASAP (which is 3 months in), but you continue, working and struggling to make it work up to a point, 15 months later, where you break and give up.
Our mind has a mind of its own. It has evolved that way to help us through our 1.5 million years of evolutionary and migratory journey. And because it’s an expensive adviser (that is also lazy), it has created these reference cards that it doles out for a quick response to your queries. Instead of taking time to listen to the problem and then derive a solution, it just asks you to refer to the cards and follow the instructions.
Now this is a good thing most of the time because most of the times, your problems are similar, if not the same and it just makes sense to write a reference card (or a blog post) to address that common problem that almost everyone seems to have every time. As a mentor, I do that often. If there’s a problem that I know is common and has a solution that is out there, I’ll just point in that direction — “Read this book”, “Check out this blog post”, “Use this tool”.
These reference cards, or rules of thumb are called heuristics. A quick and dirty rule that plays out in scenarios with specific conditions.
The thing that makes you continue despite inevitable failure or loss is a heuristic called the Sunk Cost Fallacy (there’s a youtube video explaining it below, if you don’t want to read so much).
Sunk Cost Fallacy is simply defined as (by me) as a mental process that makes you continue on a path because you are unable to recognize or accept that the cost that you have incurred is a waste and hence find it hard to let go.
In my experience, I have come across many entrepreneurs who have continued on the wrong path because they just couldn’t accept and let go.
This non-acceptance stems from fear and disappointment, both of which are emotions and emotions hold no place in business decisions*. In business, you always need to be rational and making decisions based on rational and critical thinking, not emotions.
Entrepreneurs, despite my advice, who have not done this have crashed.
(*) Please note that emotions and empathy are two different things. Both are based on, in my view, on feelings, but emotions are reactions to those feelings and reacting has never done any person any good. In business and in life, you need to have empathy to be fair, just and respectful of others, but none of that is a reaction.
Bottomline
Do not let your fear of failure, disappointment and shame trick you into doing things far longer than you should. If it’s a bad idea, walk away from it, now and not 15 months from now. It’s better to fail with a far less investment (cost) made than to pay later for it dearly.
Be aware of your emotions in business. Don’t react to your feelings, but take a step back and think rationally (and if necessary empathetically) before you take decisions.
