The Secret to Better Decisions: Stop Hoarding Chips

I have decided to work from the office since moving to the new apartment. Our furniture is still in the sea freight and won’t be here till maybe June. So I don’t have a work desk to “work from home”.

Going to work on the train these days, it’s supposedly cheaper (especially after they reduced the fares by 20% to address the increase in cost of living). I get to listen to training and economist in the journey. The company provides access to the LinkedIn training for free.

Bumped into this training thought it sounded interesting. So what I learned, is that we have been provided with “chips on the table” that makes it hard for us to decide, or to make the wrong decision. These chips re “sunk cost” for assets or knowledge that we have gained in the past. Example speaker gave was dentists spend a lot of time and money to get their qualification, it is also a prestige that they get from being a dentist. Although most dentist polled to claim that they have the most unhappy jobs, they cannot move on because they are held back by the “chips” that they have earned. Another example is selling off properties not used, such as a boat since people have spent money to buy it.

The Course

According to speaker, the way to think about it is that the “chips” are gifts from your old self. It is a gift that you can turn down. By turning down these gifts, you now free yourself from the burden of the past and can have a cleared mind in making a decision.

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/the-secret-to-better-decisions-stop-hoarding-chips/

Maybe to reflect a bit on myself, we had bought a town house in Teluk Kumbar many years ago. We bought it thinking that it feels like a landed property and is big for our growing kids. Then we later realised the commute to town is horrible since we have to take Gabe for his therapy and such. We kept holding on to that house even after we bought the Condo in Tg Tokong that is better for commute and nearer to parents. Since we already invested money and emotions into that place, it is hard to let it go and no effort was made to sell if off. We were still thinking that we will go back there one day to stay but it’s wishful thinking now.

Now that we moved to Ireland, we realised that property is one of the things that is pulling us back from making the decision to move. It’s another burden to us rather than an asset.