Continuing to spend resources on something not because it’s still promising, but because you’ve already invested a lot.
We have a tendency to continue to expend resources on bad bets just because we’ve already sunk a lot of resources into the endeavor. We have a bias towards continuing to path, no matter how flawed or non-optimal it is simply because that’s where we were already going.
This could be out of self-preservation, not wanting to admit that we were wrong. It could be a particular manifestation of Loss Aversion. Or it could be out of plain old stubbornness.
While there is something to be said at not immediately throwing in the towel and maintaining focus even when new options become available, it should be a conscious, calculated choice to stay the course.