The Hidden Bias Keeping You Stuck
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The Hidden Bias Keeping You Stuck
We all do it.
We stay in jobs that drain us. We cling to relationships that no longer bring us energy. We hold onto possessions, identities, and goals that don’t serve the future we're trying to build.
It turns out there's a simple cognitive bias to blame—and understanding it may be the key to fighting back...
In 1990, behavioral economists Richard Thaler, Daniel Kahneman, and Jack Knetsch conducted an experiment using a simple coffee mug.
They split the participants into two groups:
Sellers: Given a coffee mug and told they owned it.
Buyers: Given nothing and told they could buy a mug if they wanted to.
Then, the researchers asked each participant a question:
Sellers: What is the minimum price you'd be willing to sell the mug for?
Buyers: What is the maximum price you'd be willing to pay for the mug?
The results were fascinating:
Sellers wanted $7 on average to sell the mug, while Buyers were only willing to pay $3 on average to buy a mug.
The mugs were all identical in every way, but the two groups placed very different value on the item.
This revealed a striking cognitive bias: The Endowment Effect.
The Endowment Effect describes our tendency to assign more value to things simply because we own them. Once people possess something, they value it more highly, purely because it's theirs.
It provides the scientific basis for an irrational attachment to the things that are ours.
In this context, it isn't surprising that we have a hard time moving on, even from the things that no longer serve us.
That object, relationship, job, goal—they've become a part of our identity. We want to hold onto it, simply because it's ours.
But here's the problem:
The things that got you here may not be the things that get you there.
The human body replaces all of its cells every 7-10 years. Every day, your body literally replaces billions of its own cells—a constant cycle of shedding the old to become the new.
There is no attachment in nature. No Endowment Effect to hold you back.
It's time we embrace that natural state:
Ask yourself: “If I didn’t already have this, would I choose it today?”
Let go of that which no longer serves you.
To become the new, you have to unbecome the old.
