The way options are arranged changes what people notice and choose.
More quotes“We’ve spent too much to stop now” sounds like prudence because it contains a large number and a grave face. It is actually the past demanding voting rights.
The ski tickets make the error beautifully absurd. Both payments are gone. Choosing the worse holiday cannot rescue the expensive ticket; it merely adds a disappointing weekend to the financial loss. Businesses perform the same trick with better stationery. A team pours another year into a clumsy platform because migration already cost a year. A weak campaign stays live because the media is booked. Someone finishes a terrible film because leaving would “waste” the ticket, then wastes the evening as well.
Persistence is admirable when another pound or week improves the likely future. It becomes corporate cosplay when the argument is mainly about effort already spent. My favourite test is brutally simple: if we had not started this yesterday, knowing what we know today, would we choose it now? If not, the historic invoice can sit quietly in the minutes.
Stopping still has current costs. There may be redundancy, write-offs, broken promises or useful work required to exit safely. Count those honestly. Just do not smuggle the irrecoverable cost back in wearing a fake moustache labelled “commitment”. The past can teach. It cannot negotiate.