Perfectionist Sunk Cost Fallacy: When Loyalty Becomes Lethal

Discover how the perfectionist sunk cost fallacy could be holding you back and learn how to break free from its grip. From wearing clothes you hate, to staying in relationships or careers way past their expiration date, Sunk Cost fallacy is a lethal landmine for perfectionistic people. Find out if you’re making decisions aligned with your values or loss aversion, sunk cost definition for perfectionists, tricks sunk cost effect plays on you, why its challenging to see your own sunk costs, IRL sunk cost fallacy examples and how perfectionists can stop falling prey to sunk cost suck-i-ness forever.

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Positive Perfectionist Practices for Removing Sunk Cost Fallacy:

1. Identify Sunk Cost Fallacy: Recognize where you're holding onto investments, relationships, or decisions you would not re-choose for yourself today BC you’ve “already spent so much time, energy, money or effort”
2. If You Want Your Future, Forget Your Past: Stop living in the prison of your past choices and exit to the playground of possibility. Dropping the black and white thinking that persevering = productive
3. Make intentional decisions that empower you for the rest of your life: Check your choices with your values and pivot away from unfulfilling situations or relationships.
4. Practice Makes Permanent: To progress 100x faster, make the journey funner and strengthen your interoceptive awareness consider working with a perfectionism coach

Highlights inside Episode 198 of Perfectionism Rewired:

00:00-Perfectionists + Sunk Costs

01:51-What is sunk cost fallacy

03:26-Shedding the Weight of Sunk Costs

04:56-Being Resourceful instead of limiting your resources

05:36-Sunk Cost Effect in Unfulfilling Careers + Unhappy Relationships

07:12-Why FEELS Smart To Continue Pouring Money, time, effort when you've already sunk

09:18-Putting yourself in the victim drama triangle

11:10-Sunk Cost With Example Baby Gucci Loafers

12:03-Quick Correct Choices with Embodied Presence Interoceptive Connection

13:32-when to persevere and when to pivot

14:36-Prioritizing your values over sunk costs

15:50-No longer a victim to chronic overachieving

18:17-Proud of yourself regardless of how much you accomplish

Rich Resources Mentioned In This Sunk Cost Episode:

• How I Lost 50 pounds by Being The Worst (Leveraging Perfectionism video)
• Perfectionist's Guide to Uncovering Victim Mentality (Part 1)
• Mamba Mentality vs Victim Mentality (Part 2)
• Are You Living In The Victim Triangle? (Perfectionism Rewired ep. 181)
• Starter Perfectionism Rewiring 1-1 Coaching Pack (steal of a deal)

HIGHLY CREDIBLE SOURCES ON SUNK COST REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE:

1. Dijkstra, K. A., & Hong, Y. Y. (2019). The feeling of throwing good money after bad: The role of affective reaction in the sunk-cost fallacy. PloS one, 14(1), e0209900. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209900
2. Jarmolowicz, D. P., Bickel, W. K., Sofis, M. J., Hatz, L. E., & Mueller, E. T. (2016). Sunk costs, psychological symptomology, and help seeking. SpringerPlus, 5(1), 1699. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-3402-z
3. Schmitzer-Torbert N. (2020). Mindfulness and decision making: sunk costs or escalation of commitment?. Cognitive processing, 21(3), 391–402. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-020-00978-4
4. Schulreich, S., Dandolo, L. C., & Schwabe, L. (2022). Sunk costs under stress: Acute stress reduces the impact of past expenses on risky decisions. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 137, 105632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105632
5. Tait, V., & Miller, H. L., Jr (2019). Loss Aversion as a Potential Factor in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy. International journal of psychological research, 12(2), 8–16. https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.3951
6. Zeng, J., Zhang, Q., Chen, C., Yu, R., & Gong, Q. (2013). An fMRI study on sunk cost effect. Brain research, 1519, 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2013.05.001

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Perfectionism Rewired is committed to truth and accuracy through a perfectionist affirming lens, offering cutting-edge research on perfectionism, interoception + neuroscience, for the practical perfectionist who wants to enjoy the life they've worked so hard to create.