The Stockholm Close
Why You’re Addicted to Your Own Failure
We’ve all seen it.
The guy who stays in a dead-end job for ten years because he’s “vested.”
The founder who pours another $10,000 into a failing app because he’s already spent $50,000.
The partnership that hasn’t worked in years, but somehow still feels “too far along” to leave.
In high-stakes psychology, this is known as the Sunk Cost Fallacy. In the trenches of sales, investing, and decision-making, I call it The Stockholm Close.
It’s the moment when effort replaces logic—and quitting starts to feel more dangerous than losing.
The Science: Why Your Brain Is a Hoarder
The Sunk Cost Fallacy is our tendency to continue an endeavor simply because we’ve already invested time, money, or energy into it—regardless of whether it still makes sense.
Humans experience loss aversion at nearly twice the intensity of gain attraction. Your brain feels the pain of admitting a loss far more sharply than the excitement of a potential win.
"You aren't being 'resilient' by staying on a sinking ship; you're just learning how to hold your breath underwater."
Much like Stockholm Syndrome—where hostages begin to identify with their captors—you stop being loyal to the goal itself and start defending the effort you’ve already spent.
You aren’t protecting progress anymore. You’re protecting your ego.
The Dark Tactic: Used Against You
This bias isn’t just an internal flaw—it’s a tool. Professional manipulators rely on the Stockholm Close to keep you paying. They don’t ask for commitment upfront. They ask for just enough effort to trap you later.
They don’t sell you on the future. They hold you hostage to your past.
The RyGuy “Eject” Strategy
Real authority isn’t about grinding longer—it’s about exiting faster. Here is the audit:
The Day Zero Test: If you hadn’t already spent a dollar on this, would you choose it today?
The Attention Audit: Every hour spent “fixing” a dead project is an hour stolen from a winner.
Kill Your Darlings: Professional success is defined by what you’re willing to burn.
"The most expensive thing you can own is a mistake you refuse to walk away from."
Walking away isn’t failure. Staying too long is.
The moment you stop defending yesterday’s choices, you finally free up the bandwidth to make better ones tomorrow.
Try the RyGuy Stockholm Close Dashboard to see if you are mastering your future or just wasting your time: The Stockholm Close Dashboard