Alright I need to put a cut off on this lol…
You’ve got THIS WEEK to subscribe to “The Kale Letter” in order to get it 5x per week.
After that I’m only sending it once haha
This topic is for EVERYONE reading this, yes, everyone.
It’s one of the biggest mistakes I see people make.
And it causes some of the most unhappiness as well.
It’s called the concept of SUNK COSTS.
According to an article in Time Magazine,
“The sunk cost effect is the general tendency for people to continue an endeavor, or continue consuming or pursuing an option, if they’ve invested time or money or some resource in it,”
The classic example of this??
Yep, you guessed it.
That girlfriend or boyfriend that you JUST CAN’T SEEM to get around to dumping… :)
Whether you’re married now (like me) or not, we’ve all been there most likely, haha!
YOU INVEST SO MUCH TIME, EFFORT, EMOTION, & MONEY into SOMETHING or SOMEONE that it is SO MUCH EASIER to just KEEP GOING rather than FACE THE PAIN of realizing that you WASTED THAT MUCH TIME AND RESOURCE!!
I personally think, at least for me, that that sentence above says it all.
It’s not that I don’t know the right thing to do.
I KNOW I should abandon that marketing campaign, it’s not profitable
I KNOW I should fire that employee, they aren’t working hard…
I KNOW I should switch from comcast to Verizon, their service is terrible
However, I spent WEEKS working on that marketing campaign!
I spent DAYS on MEETINGS with that employee!
And calling comcast customer support is worse than getting a tooth removed!
LOL.
We’ve all been there, am I right?
Here’s the thing though, you’ve GOT to RIP THE BANDAID OFF.
By far some of the biggest, most important, most PIVOTAL decisions in my life were when I realized that yes, that time has been wasted…
But more importantly, it was CRIMINAL of me to WASTE ANY MORE TIME!!!
That’s what you really have to focus on here.
Not the past, where the time, money, emotions, and feelings can never be recovered.
But on the FUTURE time that you will CONTINUE to waste if you don’t CHANGE!
REAL QUICK: - one quick personal example so that you can get on with your day and start thinking about the areas in your life that need to be aggressively pruned to avoid this extremely common cause of unhappiness in your life.
23 Years of BASKETBALL completely ABANDONED.
Many of you know this, but I played Division 1 Basketball.
I played at Northwestern University in Chicago, Drake University in Iowa, and Duquesne University here in Pittsburgh.
Here’s a picture of me at NU, share this letter with someone if you dig the shaggy hair ;-)
When I was in fifth grade, I told my dad I wanted to “Play at Duke” and “Play in the NBA”.
My dad, a collegiate basketball coach at the time sat me down and said…
“Kale, if you want that, you need to work for it. You need to practice, every day.”
So I did.
From fifth grade up until I took my last shot in a college game at Duquesne in 2016.
I worked out.
EVERY DAY.
literally.
Obsession level = Dragged my dad to the gym at 11pm on a Saturday night to rebound.
Endless summers traveling the World playing AAU basketball.
Then the 24/7 obsession of elite D1 ball.
Talk about SUNK COSTS!
THOUSANDS of HOURS.
Blood, sweat, and literal tears.
And then, one day, the ball stopped bouncing.
I had a choice to make.
A) Pursue a professional career overseas (100% doable & probably the natural route to go in order to not waste my entire life’s work)
B) Quit, get a day job, and stay in Pittsburgh.
Here’s the point. I’m not special. But this is the point that you can take to the BANK.
—->>> Ignoring YEARS of sunk costs and STAYING IN PITTSBURGH was THE SINGLE BEST DECISION I’ve EVER MADE IN MY LIFE.
I started multiple businesses worth tens of millions of dollars.
I met the love of my life and best friend and married her
I became ridiculously involved with the best church on the planet
Those 3 things above?
Game changer.
Game over.
I would not be anywhere close to as wealthy, happy, or fulfilled if I didn’t have those 3 things.
And the crazy part is, EVERYTHING INSIDE OF ME told me NOT TO DO IT.
Your literal BODY will scream NO!
Your stomach will hurt.
You’ll get headaches.
You’ll wake up with crazy dreams.
It will HURT for a while.
Sunk costs are no joke.
They have memories, emotions, and PAIN associated with them.
Ripping them off is like ripping off a giant bandaid from the biggest, most infected wound you could ever imagine.
But oh, the peace and satisfaction when you’ve done it.
I would encourage each of you reading this to do a couple practical things.
Ask yourself
A) What in my life am I holding on to simply because I put a lot of effort or time into it?
B) What in my life am I holding on to simply because I put a lot of MONEY into it?
Really think about this. These things might be so in-grained into your psychology that you don’t even notice it.
They might be the MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT YOU (you think).
That’s okay.
Did I ever think I’d be an entrepreneur writing you this letter from my rooftop deck in Pittsburgh?
HELL NO.
I thought I would be playing basketball my whole life.
Life is crazy, and today might be the day you really start to live it.
Love ya.
Kale
Share this post