I was at a conference in Barcelona a few years ago. The official presentation, the topics on the agenda seemed very interesting: how organisations are built, how they could rethink their structure to be competitive, these are concerns I have had for a long time. So I decided to go and, not to go empty-handed, I took two colleagues with me. We were going to spend 4 days in that beautiful city, during the day at the conference, then in the evening, around the city.
But, surprise, the first day of the conference was boring as hell. In the evening, with a considerable level of frustration, we said let’s give the event another chance and go the next day, that’s all we were after.
By noon it was clear to me that I had spent the money badly.
Then I told my colleagues to leave. Of course, I had paid for the conference, I couldn’t get the money back. But it was better to go and enjoy the city, relax, chat, enrich our experiences in museums and on the streets than to waste away in a sad, dark room.
My colleagues were surprised that the manager urged them to “skip it”.
A friend recently told me he was at a conference and the information was rather banal, even boring. I asked why he wasn’t leaving. He didn’t answer.
It must be hard to accept that we’ve spent our money on something not worth it.
We are talking in these cases about sunk costs: they have already been made and cannot be taken back.
It can also happen that we buy a product we don’t like. We don’t go back to the shop with cheese because we don’t like it.
But neither do we eat something that would make us sick just because we paid money for it.
The cost would be higher afterwards, when we also go to the pharmacy or doctor.
To end it all with the conference, we chose to create some memorable moments then, to enjoy the city and the pleasant company instead of getting frustrated.