The phrase, ‘don’t sink good money after bad’ has been rolling around my head lately. I put it into practice yesterday–in a small way, that hopefully will help me suss out the bigger ways in which I’ve been operating based on sunk cost theory.
We were having a hearty soup for dinner and I decided to bake something to go alongside it. I first decided on one recipe, but then I got distracted by popovers, something I baked once, not well, over 10 years ago.
I’m coming off of a significant injury and my kitchen time is still really limited. So what better time to engage with an unfamiliar recipe?
It didn’t work.
The popover batter wasn’t ‘bubbly’ like the recipe said it should have been. It was cement.
Past versions of me would have put the cement batter in the oven anyway, hoping for the best, not wanting to contribute to waste.
And then I thought, ‘don’t sink good effort after bad.’
So I threw out the batter. It was weirdly liberating. I thought I’d feel more anguish about it, but I didn’t. I simply got out the recipe book and tried something else.
I’ve been thinking in bigger, more personal terms about sunk costs and where I’m putting my efforts. About when it’s time to get out the recipe book and try again.
How is this showing up in your life? I’d love to hear from you! Comment below or DM me on instagram @resiliencedoctor
