When Persistence Becomes the Problem

Mary-Lynn: 00:00:01

On this episode of the The BIGG Success Show: When Persistence Becomes the Problem.

BIGG Voice Guy: 00:00:08

BIGG Success with The Professor and Mary-Lynn.

George: 00:00:14

Imagine you've spent years building something up.

Mary-Lynn: 00:00:17

A business, a career, a project, maybe a goal you've sacrificed a lot to pursue.

George: 00:00:22

But lately, something has changed.

Progress has slowed.

The opportunity just doesn't look as promising.

Mary-Lynn: 00:00:29

Or maybe you've changed and what once mattered deeply doesn't fit the life you want now.

George: 00:00:34

Then a familiar thought starts creeping in.

Look at everything you've already put into it.

All that time, all that money, all that effort.

Those are your sunk costs.

And they can make it surprisingly hard to decide what to do next.

Mary-Lynn: 00:00:50

If you've invested five years, stopping can feel like you wasted five years.

If you've invested $50,000, changing direction can mean facing a pretty painful possibility that that money may be gone.

George: 00:01:05

So you keep going.

Sometimes that persistence pays off.

But sometimes one of your greatest strengths, your determination to keep going - keep on getting on, right?

Mary-Lynn: 00:01:15

Yeah.

George: 00:01:15

It keeps you investing in something that no longer makes sense.

Mary-Lynn: 00:01:19

Welcome to the The BIGG Success Show, where we help you create the life you want.

Hi, I'm Mary-Lynn.

George: 00:01:24

And I'm George, The Professor.

Mary-Lynn: 00:01:26

We hear a lot about the importance of persistence.

Don't give up.

Stay the course.

Finish what you start.

And that's good advice when the goal still matters and there's a reasonable path forward.

George: 00:01:37

But personal entrepreneurs also need to know when their resources could create more value somewhere else.

Mary-Lynn: 00:01:43

In this episode, we'll explore three moves that can help you decide what deserves your continued persistence.

The first one is Reassess - why what you've already invested can distort what you should do next.

The second, Release - how to stay committed to what matters without becoming trapped by one route.

And third, Reallocate- how to decide whether your resources could create a better return somewhere else.

Let's start with the first move: Reassess, make the next decision based on the future.

George: 00:02:14

And here's what makes this so tricky.

The more you've already invested, the harder it can be to evaluate what you should do next.

There's actually a name for this tendency.

It's called the sunk cost effect.

Researchers Hal Arkes and Catherine Blumer found that people tend to keep investing in something because they've already invested money, time, and effort in it.

But what you've already spent is gone.

You can't recover yesterday's investment by putting more into something today.

Mary-Lynn: 00:02:42

Yet the decision in front of you is simpler.

From this point forward, is this the best use of the next $25,000?

Apply the same thinking to your time.

I've already spent three years on this.

Now those three years are gone.

Whether I stop or continue, what matters now is does this deserve year four?

George: 00:03:04

So periodically give long standing commitments a fresh evaluation.

Knowing what you know today, would you choose this again?

If the answer is no, don't automatically quit.

Treat it as a signal that something deserves a closer look.

Your future shouldn't have to keep funding a decision simply because your past did.

Mary-Lynn: 00:03:24

lk about that more in episode: 1202

You can find that link in your show notes.

That brings us to the second move to decide what deserves your continued persistence:

Release, stay loyal to what matters.

Not one particular route.

George: 00:03:43

Sometimes the destination still matters, but the road you're on isn't getting you there.

Think about driving somewhere and discovering the road ahead is closed.

You don't just sit there saying, "But I committed to this road!

I better stick with it.

I'm gonna stick with it.

Doggone it."

Mary-Lynn: 00:03:57

Even you're not that stubborn.

George: 00:04:00

No.

What do you do?

You find another route.

Mary-Lynn: 00:04:02

Yes, you do.

And with our biggest goals, we we often become attached to the method.

A business owner wants financial independence, so they keep pushing a business model that isn't working.

Or a professional wants meaningful work so they stay in a career that hasn't fit for years.

George: 00:04:18

The bigger goal may still be right, but the current vehicle may have run its course.

And research suggests there's real value in being flexible about how we pursue our goals.

A large analysis published in Nature Human Behavior looked at more than 200 studies on goal adjustment.

One of the most useful insights for us is this: letting go can create space.

Choosing what comes next gives that space a purpose.

I just love that.

Mary-Lynn: 00:04:47

Oh, that is a BIGG insight right there.

And that's why it helps to step back and look at what you're ultimately trying to accomplish.

Does this business job, project or strategy still move you toward the personal, professional, and financial goals that matter most to you?

That's one of the reasons we created our Life Map course.

It gives you a bigger picture to evaluate individual decisions against.

When one path stops moving you toward the life you want, you can change the path without abandoning what you ultimately want to achieve.

Learn more at LifeMapCourse.com. And now for the third move to decide what deserves your continued persistence:

Reallocate, consider what your persistence is preventing.

Now here's the question we often miss, what could these resources create somewhere else?

This is something we harp on all the time here at BIGG Success. Every commitment consumes something Time, money, energy, attention, opportunity.

George: 00:05:47

So let's put this into perspective.

Suppose a long running project takes 10 hours a week.

It still produces some value.

So stopping feels wasteful.

Mary-Lynn: 00:05:56

Yeah.

I mean, it's only 10 hours a week, right?

George: 00:05:58

Ah, but Mary-Lynn, that 10 hours a week soon becomes 500 hours a year.

Yeah.

So what might 500 hours create if you redirected them towards a more promising business?

A valuable new skill?

Your health?

Important relationships?

Or perhaps another goal that matters more?

That's the hidden cost of persistence.

The standard shouldn't simply be whether something still produces some return.

Consider whether it still represents a good use of your limited resources compared with your other alternatives.

Mary-Lynn: 00:06:30

Of course, don't turn every setback into a reason to quit.

Almost anything worthwhile includes slow periods, setbacks and uncertainty.

But look at the evidence.

Is there still a credible path forward?

Have the assumptions changed?

Does the outcome still matter?

Are you continuing because of future potential or mostly because of past investment?

George: 00:06:51

And remember, ending something doesn't erase its value.

My dad always said, Mary-Lynn, they can't take the experience away from you.

Mary-Lynn: 00:06:58

Oh, that's a good one.

That's a BIGG insight.

George: 00:07:00

It is.

And it's just so simple and yet it's so difficult to keep in mind.

You know, a business that didn't work may have taught you how to sell.

A career you leave may have developed skills you'll use for decades.

A goal you outgrow may have been exactly the right goal and at an earlier point in your life.

Mary-Lynn: 00:07:17

Yeah, you can keep the return that you've already earned without continuing the investment forward.

And that brings us to this episode's BIGG Assignment from The Professor.

George: 00:07:28

All right, so this week we're going to ask you to do a 12-Month Trade Test.

You're going to choose one long standing commitment that you've been unsure about.

Now imagine two versions of the next 12 months.

In future A, you continue investing in it.

In future B, you stop or significantly reduce it and redirect those resources toward your best alternative.

Now write down what each future could reasonably produce in these four areas:

Time, money, energy and opportunity.

And then compare them.

Don't include what you've already spent.

That's history.

That's your sunk cost.

Focus entirely on what happens from today forward.

You may discover that continuing is absolutely worth it.

Great.

That means your persistence is now a fresh decision.

Or you may realize that your next opportunity has been waiting for resources that your old commitment is still consuming.

Either way, you've made a more intentional choice.

Mary-Lynn: 00:08:26

Find the full BIGG Assignment instructions with your show notes.

And here's our BIGG Takeaway.

George: 00:08:33

Persistence creates success when you're persistent about what matters, not merely what you've already started.

Your past deserves respect, but your future deserves resources.

They're required for BIGG success.

Mary-Lynn: 00:08:46

And when you're clear about the life you want to create, it becomes much easier to decide which commitments deserve more of your valuable resources.

Join our newsletter at BIGGsuccess.com/Join for more practical ways to help create that life you want.

And be sure to connect with us @BIGGsuccess on all of your favorite social channels.

Next time...We've talked about knowing when to change course, but how do you know when your reasons for holding back are good judgment or fear?

That's next on BIGG Success.

Be sure to follow or subscribe to the The BIGG Success Show so you don't miss it.

George: 00:09:22

And we thank you for listening.

Until next time...

George & Mary-Lynn: 00:09:25

Here's to your BIGG success!

BIGG Voice Guy: 00:09:28

Find BIGG Success at BIGGsuccess.com