Cost Of Change

While studying for project management I came across the concept of “Sunk Cost”. It went on to explain that if there was some cost incurred for a certain wrong step, we should not consider that cost as a parameter in deciding the change of course. We need to book the loss and move on to restart our books. I think that this principle is also applicable to our life. Often we continue in a particular way because we think that we have already invested a plenty of time and energy into it and we will lose all of that. But this should not be the part of the equation.

 At times there is a strong temptation to continue to in a particular way only because we have always done it that way. Things have not gone unmanageably wrong so far and it is easy to cruise along in this known path within a cozy and comfort zone. It is easier and less expensive to correct our course now rather than wait till some major crisis descends on us. But then the course and process corrections come at a very high cost. I hope the nuclear energy agencies around the world take a lesson or two from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan after the Tsunami.

The message is simple: proactive change can be painful but it is the key to our success and survival in this fast changing world.

I leave you with some random pictures taken from the city I reside.