Step 7 (of 7): Don’t Stress About The Sunk Cost Fallacy If You Want To Change Course Down The Road - Project FLAT – my real-life plan

View the original article in its entirety at jourdanhathaway.me

Quick refresher: What the heck is “Project FLAT”? It’s the very specific self-authored professional development plan I put myself on during a pivotal growth moment in my career– It stands for?Financial?Literacy?Advancement?Training (to get excited, I had to market it to myself). Did you miss the intro or the previous steps??Start here.?Over 7 days, I am breaking down each of the steps and sharing exactly what I did. You can even score the Word doc file of the actual plan I used.?Let’s dive into step 7 (of 7) shall we?

Remember, I had already completed these steps:

1. Identified my gaps
2. Owned my professional development
3. Did. The. Work.
4. Networked like crazy along my learning journey
5. Applied my learns along the way and let others know what I was working on
6. Paid it forward with my new (and old) domains of expertise

So now it was time to reflect on the last thing - step 7.

7. Don’t Stress About The Sunk Cost Fallacy If You Want To Change Course Down The Road

The sunk cost fallacy is?our tendency to continue with an endeavor we’ve invested money, effort, or time into—even if the current costs outweigh the benefits. It’s not a phrase I would have thrown out pre-Project FLAT.

Professional development is more than acquiring skills or climbing the career ladder. It’s a personal journey of growth, adaptability, and self-discovery. Yet, many remain anchored by the ‘sunk cost fallacy’, hesitant to pivot due to past investments. For instance, if after extensive financial literacy training, I didn’t directly use those finance concepts daily, it doesn’t negate the value. That journey honed my problem-solving skills, showcased my resilience, expanded my network, and fostered self-awareness. It taught me I can learn new and complex things. It demonstrated that to everyone who watched me on the journey, and because I was so open along the way, it sometimes served as a booster of confidence for other people. That makes me really happy.

Life is vast, unpredictable, and full of potential learning experiences. Every course, interaction, and experience, contributes to growth.

This Concludes My Deep Dive on Project FLAT

If you’re still reading, thank you! I hope you found value in my real-life professional development plan that took me from a VP of Marketing to an SVP of Operations. For me, Project FLAT wasn’t a sunk cost, but a real catalyst. I didn’t know at the time when I embarked on that professional development plan as a marketer that I’d land at the intersection of opportunity and preparedness to become an executive operator.

Embrace the journey, celebrate your evolution, and remain open to the myriad possibilities that lie ahead.

Project F.L.A.T. Download, tweak, and make it your own. Conquer your professional development. I’m your champion rooting you on. You got this!

Did you miss the intro or the previous steps??Start here.?