206: The Psychology of the Sunk Cost Fallacy: Why We Hold On and How to Let Go
Maximized Minimalist Podcast
Katy Wells
4.8 • 936 Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2023
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A few months ago, I was talking with one of my new Inner Circle members.
She said to me, "Katy, I joined your program because I can't keep living this way," and even though I knew I could help her, it broke my heart to hear that. 🥹
After beginning to work together, I quickly I realized the root of why she wasn't seeing progress wasn't a lack of willpower, lack of consistency or lack of strategy...
NOPE.
It was because (unbeknownst to her) she had a psychological bias called the "sunk cost fallacy" .
Essentially, it's this idea that if you've already put resources (like time and money) into something, you should continue to invest in it (or KEEP it, in this case), even if you know it's not the best decision.
This bias is known as the "sunk cost" fallacy because the resources you've invested are already gone, just like a ship that has sunk.
And after taking my advice, which I also share with you too, in today's episode - her declutter progress skyrocketed. 🚀
I'm talking going from 0 to 100.
This is why I LOVE 1-1 coaching...
Dialing into the roots AND providing people with tangible solutions they need to FINALLY get the results they deserve - there's nothing sweeter.
If you, like her, are ready to dig deep, let go and create a home you love and that supports you, make sure to listen to today's episode and join me in my coaching program to get personalized support!
https://www.katyjoywells.com/innercircle
Cheering for you,
xx Katy
P.S. My 1-1 Coaching Program Is OPEN! Don't miss this opportunity to get direct support from me, conquer your clutter, and make this your best year yet. 💖
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What does it mean to live more with less? I'm Katie Wells and welcome to the Maximized Minimalist |
| 0:07.7 | podcast. If you found yourself caught up in the hamster wheel of modern day motherhood and want to |
| 0:14.1 | rewrite the script, congratulations you're in the right place. I'm here to be your guide and help you take |
| 0:20.6 | back your motherhood |
| 0:21.6 | and achieve a simpler, more joy-filled life. Cheers to being a maximized minimalist. Enjoy the show. |
| 0:29.7 | When it comes to decluttering, one of the biggest obstacles that people face, usually unknowingly, |
| 0:35.8 | is what's called the sunk cost fallacy. And after helping |
| 0:40.3 | thousands of people declutter their homes over the last several years, this is one obstacle I see |
| 0:45.7 | every person struggle with. I'm talking 100% of people, yes, including me. And after working very recently with one of my students |
| 0:55.8 | inside my one-on-one coaching program, I was like, oh my gosh, this is her main challenge here. |
| 1:02.4 | So I brought it to her attention and we've been working together to overcome it. |
| 1:06.4 | And she said, this has literally been the missing link in my declutter journey and the reason why I never |
| 1:12.3 | got the success I wanted. And she's like, my progress has skyrocketed. And she's like, I'm |
| 1:17.6 | decluttering at the speed of light now. I didn't think this was possible. So I wanted to bring |
| 1:22.2 | this conversation to you, my podcast listeners as well. And on a side note, this is why one-on-one coaching is |
| 1:29.8 | priceless because she came into my coaching program thinking she needed a strategy, she needed |
| 1:35.0 | a method, she needed a step one through step 20. And while I give lots of strategy in my program, |
| 1:41.3 | that's ultimately not really what she needed. She needed to understand why she was |
| 1:46.1 | struggling. And with my help, she got to the root reason, essentially shortcutting her path to |
| 1:52.1 | success. So if you want my help decluttering your home, make sure to check out my coaching |
| 1:56.6 | experience at katydrawells.com forward slash inner circle and I'll link that in the show notes. |
| 2:01.6 | Okay. So what is the sunk cost fallacy? So in a nutshell, this is a cognitive bias that causes |
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