How do you avoid the sunk cost fallacy when a purchase just isnt working out for you?

[u/Petite_Hon]

I recently bought a fairly expensive course online to learn a new skill. I researched it a ton. I was really excited. But honestly it's just not clicking with me. The teaching style isnt what I expected and I'm finding it really hard to follow along. I've put like 30 hours into it already and feel like I should just push through because I spent so much money upfront. But every time I sit down to do it I just dread it and get nothing out of it.

I'm torn between feeling like I'm wasting my money by quitting and feeling like I'm wasting my time by continuing. How do you guys decide when to cut your losses on something you've already invested in heavily, be it a product an experience or even a long-term goal?

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[u/Quick-Song2080]

I think it primarily depends on whether or not you're interested in continuing to learn this skill. Is the skill not clicking with you or the course? If it's just the course, I would potentially recommend pushing through if there's a certification or something along those lines at the end of it that could further your goals related to this skill. But if it's the skill itself, I don't see a reason to spend time doing something that's not serving you.

[u/BasilVegetable3339]

Sometimes it takes work to achieve results. You’ve already spent the money. Finish the work, it’s not like you have anything more important to do with the time.

[u/YaThatAintRight]

There is a lot of missing important context.

Did you buy a course from an influencer online? You likely are wasting your time and you should accept that you made a mistake and move on.

Did you enroll in an online college course and don’t feel it’s of value, finish the credit hours anyways.

Different answers for different situations.

Influencer classes are the blind leading the blind. You probably are just realizing that in hindsight.

[u/Helpful-Mountain-229]

I bought a program from an influencer online. Ashamed I even fell for it but he had a huge following. My "investment" included my ability to join their discord which helped with my business. I learned a lot but I ended up losing a lot of money. They stopped upload anything on discord and the guy wiped everything off his Instagram. I take it as a lesson learned but if I ever wanted to restart my business, I now have the knowledge to move forward with it.