Calculate the ongoing cost of delay

Every day you continue a bad course is a day you could have started a better one.

Why it works

Sunk cost thinking focuses on the backward cost of stopping. Cost-of-delay thinking focuses on the forward cost of not stopping: the value of the better alternative accumulating while you remain committed to the inferior course. This reframes "stopping = loss" as "continuing = ongoing loss," which is both more accurate and motivating. The switch in framing makes exit feel like gain rather than abandonment.

How to do it

1. Estimate what a better alternative path would yield per week or month.
2. Multiply by the number of weeks or months you have been delaying the exit decision.
3. State it explicitly: "By staying in this for three more months, I will have foregone X."
4. Use that accumulating foregone value — not the past investment — as the cost measure.

Evidence

Cost of delay is established in lean product development and product management (Reinertsen). Its use as a sunk cost antidote is a practitioner extension; the underlying mechanism — making opportunity cost salient — is supported by the Frederick et al. (2009) research on opportunity cost activation. (mechanistic)

The cost of delay requires a concrete alternative to measure against; if the alternative is vague, the calculation is guesswork.

Sources

• Reinertsen (2009), The Principles of Product Development Flow (cost of delay formalization)

Common mistake

Framing the exit choice as "losing what I’ve invested" rather than "gaining everything I would capture by redirecting from here forward."