Alexis' friend asked her to go to a trendy new festival so she couldn't turn her down again. But as soon as she said yes, things started to go downhill. When we got to the island of course as most people know now, nothing was as promised. We were not in luxury resort style. We were just in pretty damp tents, basically spending the whole time there trying to figure out how to get out.
In life and work, we have a hard time changing course. When we wind up in a miserable job, a failing project, or a floundering romantic relationship, we rationalize, make excuses, and stick with our bad decisions—even when the writing's on the wall. Why? Usually we assume the driving force is sunk costs: we don't want to admit we've wasted that time or money. But in fact, the root of our stubbornness is a psychological trap called “escalation of commitment.” Once we understand that, we can start taking steps to protect ourselves from… well, ourselves. This is an episode of WorkLife with Adam Grant, another podcast in the TED Audio Collective. For more episodes, find and follow WorkLife wherever you're listening to this.