Dancing flute丨The "sunk cost" of the three views was shattered
A friend told me one thing, although it was very small, it shattered my "three views" -
He went to the movies with his wife, and after watching the two three-hour episodes for twenty minutes, he felt very bored and didn't want to watch any more, but considering his wife's emotions, he suppressed his impatience and didn't say anything. Who knew that after a while, his wife also said that the movie was boring, so he said: Then let's not watch it! But my wife said that a ticket costs dozens of yuan, and it's a pity not to look at it, which means that since dozens of dollars have been spent, it's better to read it. Then he said a few words softly, and his wife immediately got up and left together—he told her: Since the money is not worth spent, it is already a loss, and you have to take more than two hours of precious time, isn't it worth it? His wife had an epiphany and quickly pulled him away, and the depression ended.
This little thing shows a truth: sometimes do the wrong thing, especially after investing money, and then spend time and effort to do it, although you know that it is meaningless, but you are always reluctant to stop the loss in time, that is, people often say that you must quickly "break away". If this is not the case, not only will it not be able to recover the losses that have been caused, but it will continue to expand the damage and make it double the regret. However, if you find that things are not going well, and continuing to do it will increase the cost of damage, you may want to end it immediately, and despite the loss, you can get the effect of not increasing the loss or damage, and control the irreparable damage to a minimum. This method is known in the theoretical community as a timely stop-loss - the "sunk cost" effect. There is also a similar concept, that is, the "gecko escape" effect, that is, when the baby gecko is bitten by a natural predator and its tail is about to be eaten, or when the tail is pressed by something and cannot walk away, it will rely on natural instinct to break off its tail, escape and survive, and after a period of time, it will grow a new tail.
Isn't it? I remember reading two short stories twenty years ago -
One is that in ancient times in the mainland, there was an old man who sold porcelain, and inadvertently broke the eaves of a porcelain bowl, so he simply threw away the bowl that could still be barely used. He said that what's the use of being distressed, if it's rotten, it can't be sold, even if I regret hitting myself in the mouth, I can't get it right, and if I throw it away, I won't be out of sight and out of mind, and if someone else picks it up, it's a free gift! The boss's open-mindedness caused the surrounding customers to nod frequently.
There is also a story about a professor in India who took out his newly bought leather shoes to admire when he took the train, but found that there was only one, and he couldn't find the other one when he rummaged through his leather bag. I simply threw out the window, but as soon as I threw it out, the passenger on the opposite side said Isn't there one under your seat? It turned out that the other one had been inadvertently left under the seat, and he picked it up and threw it out. The passengers were puzzled, but he said, since the one is gone, this one is useless, throw out the two if anyone finds it, they can still wear it. If you don't throw away this one, not only is it useless for people to pick it up, but it's always troublesome to keep it in your heart. Later, this event was widely praised as a classic thinking.
If you understand this truth, learn to stop losses in time, and decisively sink costs, you can reduce unnecessary wear and tear in your life, so as to do it well in the future. Twenty years ago, Shandong coastal vigorously developed sea-view houses, set up countless sales points in the mainland, and the houses did sell a lot, only in our fourth-tier cities, it is said that there are no less than 30,000 buyers, among which of course there are cost-effective purchases, but there are also many who buy losses, and only afterwards do I know that their contribution to GDP is meaningless. Why? That is, when you buy it, you think it is beautiful, and it turns out to be useless. I wanted to enjoy the endless beach sunshine after retirement, but it was impossible to retire, either the elderly at home were sick and needed to be taken care of, or the grandchildren could not go to school and pick up, and there were two people who were in poor health and could not go, the ideal was very plump, the reality was very skinny, the house was bought but idle for a long time, so the coast of the sea presented a piece of ghost town, after nightfall, it was not thousands of lights full of street songs, but the black lights were blind everywhere, and occasionally there was a bright window, but also like a phosphorus fire in the dark night, not only was it speechless and sad. There is also one biggest problem that I didn't expect: you are only on vacation in one place, and after three consecutive years, you will feel that with these more than 200,000 yuan, you can run all over the country, and even see many world famous places with different styles, and the money is only smashed on this beach, but it has become a shackle that imprisons your steps.
In the face of this situation, there are two examples around us that can compare the application value of the "sunk cost" effect -
An example is a colleague who bought a sea-view house four years later found that the situation was not as optimistic as he originally thought, so he made a decisive move and sold the house bought for 220,000 yuan for 150,000 yuan.
Another example is a friend also spent 220,000 yuan at the same time to buy a set, ten years did not go to live for ten days, and after retirement, first the parents were paralyzed in bed, serving for four or five years to send the old man away, and then the two twin grandchildren need him to go to school and need him to pick up and drop off, and after fifteen years, his wife died during the three-year lockdown, leaving him, full of enough to go to bathe in Haiyang, and he did not dare to go. Why? Because by this time he was already in his old age, not only did the child not let him go, but he himself was also timid. Do you think, he is so old, and his health is not good, he went to those two thousand miles away, living alone in the house, in case of a sudden illness, will he turn into a skeleton on the spot? Also, there is really a bit of an urgent matter at home, can he rush back overnight? During this period, he also thought about selling the house many times over the years, but when he saw the house prices falling more and more every time, he gave up in the hesitation of returning again. More than 200,000 sea-view houses have become his "no meat, it is a pity to abandon it" chicken ribs, if you sell it at a discount earlier, although the funds are greatly discounted, but it will also play a role, now it is equivalent to losing more than 20 years of function in vain, not to mention that more than 200,000 at that time is equivalent to today's 400,000, even if it can be sold at the original price, it is a big loss, the more he thinks about it, the more angry he becomes, more than 200,000 is almost the same as playing in the water, in fact, it is equivalent to throwing away a lot of money in vain, which is undoubtedly the blood and sweat of most of his life. He even fantasized about the day when housing prices suddenly rebounded, and he would make money instead of losing. There may be that day, but he hasn't waited for more than 20 years, even if there is really a day in another 30 years and 50 years, it still has something to do with him, can Lord Yama help him make a lot of money? What's more, the guarantee period of our commercial housing is 70 years, and more than 20 years have passed...... At that time, he also ridiculed my colleague and said, "You buy for money and sell for money, you just want to lose money and make money?" Now he is determined to make a move, but the price of gold has fallen to the price of cabbage, and it is even more difficult to sell. At this time, he envied my colleague again - it turned out that losing money in some circumstances is not necessarily a bad thing, at least it will not increase the degree of "bad", such as losing a lot of money playing cards, and decisively quitting gambling; It is like a piece of meat that rots and has to be stuffed into a garbage can; There are also clearance sales of long-term backlog of goods in shopping malls.
These two humble stories are also excellent examples of the "sunk cost" effect in time.
Anyone will feel distressed when buying and selling at a loss, but when faced with the dilemma of "giving up" and "keeping" are both harmful and useless, learning to "take the lighter" is the best policy. The fourth crossing of Chishui was a classic battle in the history of the Red Army; once a large unit of the Red Army was blocked by the artillery it was carrying when crossing the bridge, the enemy was chasing after it closely, the enemy planes were circling overhead, and the team was blocked on the wooden bridge and could not walk, and it was in danger of being "gathered and annihilated." I have worked in the mine rescue team for several years, in the process of mine rescue, it is inevitable to encounter a situation that is really difficult to choose - after the roof is raised by a huge rock to hold down the arms or legs, can not rescue people for a moment and a half, a bigger collapse will occur at any time, such a dangerous and extremely dangerous moment, if you do not take "emergency measures", even if you delay a little, including the ambulance team members, including the rescue team, may be all "simmered", not only can not save people, but also take in a few more rescuers' lives. At this time, the captain gave an order, and he swung an axe to cut off the arm of the person in distress, and all personnel quickly evacuated from the danger, so that not only could a life be saved, although it was an incomplete life, to achieve the "gecko-style" "broken arm survival", and at the same time, there would be no more ambulance crews.
In a hundred years of life, many times you can't buy regret medicine, and you can't go back, and timely "sunk costs" are often the best choice.
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Author's Profile
Wu Di, whose real name is Cai Quansheng, Han nationality, university culture, senior corporate trainer, retired employee of China Pingmei Shenma Group. His ancestral home is Wuyang, Luohe, Henan, and he is a member of the China Coal Mine Writers Association, the Henan Writers Association, and the Provincial Folk Artists Association. He is currently the vice chairman of the Weidong Branch of the Pingdingshan City Writers Association in Henan Province. He has published 5 literary works, including "People on the Journey", "Borrowing Topics", "Miscellaneous Tales of the World" and "Sighs of the Mountains and Seas".