A sunk cost but at least I didn’t sink….

It’s a common theme in discussions with my friends that we all seem to be getting busier and busier at work. Spare time is at a premium.

One of my hobbies when I do have some spare time is trying to keep fit. Six years ago I signed up for the 2004 London triathlon and since then I have been hooked on the sport. Triathlon is an event where you swim, cycle and then run. I’m very much an amateur and look up in awe at the elite athletes that seem to literally sprint around the course. For me it’s the training, competing and comradeship that is the fun behind the event.

At last year’s London Triathlon I was hoping to beat my personal best but unfortunately picked up an injury to one of my knees in the run up to the event. I was in two minds whether to start the race and then try to struggle through and finish it. After all, I had spent money on entering and had trained hard for the event.

It took a friend of mine who happens to be an accountant to make me see sense. He mentioned that the money I had spent on entering and the time I had spent on training was simply a sunk cost.  (Students will remember from our free ExPress notes that sunk costs are not relevant. They have already taken place and cannot be reversed.)

What I needed to do now was to focus on the situation as it stood at that time rather than review any costs that had been incurred already.  A very sensible piece of advice by my friend and probably saved me from injuring my knee any further.

In the end though I went for the middle ground by completing the swim but not the bike or run. As my friend pointed out, I didn’t sink in the swim and ignored the sunk costs in the bike and run!