The familiar feels safe, but it’s slowly killing you.
You know that person who’s been complaining about their job for years but never makes any career move? That’s not laziness. That’s loss aversion (and it might even be you).
“It’s not that we fear the unknown. You cannot fear something you do not know. Nobody is afraid of the unknown. What you really fear is the loss of the known.” — Anthony De Mello
The Real Reason We Don’t Change
We tell ourselves we’re afraid of the unknown. That new role, that career pivot, that entrepreneurial leap; we say it’s the uncertainty that paralyzes us.
But that’s not quite right.
You can’t actually fear something you’ve never experienced. What grips us isn’t fear of what might happen, but the terror of losing what we already have.
The Predictability Prison
Your current job might drain you. Your industry might be stagnating. You may feel like your current role is slowly sucking your soul away, and leading to the slow death of your potential.
Yet you stay. For years past when you know you should.
Because that job comes with known quantities: a predictable paycheck, familiar routines, established relationships, a clear identity. Even if these things don’t serve you, they’re yours. They’re certain. They’re safe.
This is loss aversion in action—the psychological principle that shows we feel losses twice as intensely as equivalent gains.
We’ll endure a mediocre present to avoid risking the loss of our comfortable predictability.
The comfort keeps you stuck.
The Suffering We Choose
How many people do you know who complain about their work but never change it? Who dream about something different but never take action? Who’ve been saying “maybe next year” for the past five years?
They’re not lacking vision. They’re human beings caught in the grip of loss aversion, willingly choosing familiar suffering over uncertain possibility.
The Cost of Staying Safe
But loss aversion doesn’t account for the compound cost of not changing.
Every day you don’t pursue that better opportunity is a day of lost growth. Every month you stay in the wrong role is a month of missed experiences. Every year you postpone reinventing your work is a year further from the career that could truly fulfill you.
The longer you stay stuck, the more you cement your identity in who you currently are and what you currently do. It’s a self-reinforcing loop.
The “safe” choice isn’t safe at all; it’s just slow-motion, invisible risk.
The Question That Changes Everything
Here’s the question that cuts through all the comfortable delusions:
What are you losing by not changing?
Not what you might lose if you do change (that’s the fear talking again). But what are you actively losing right now by staying exactly where you are?
Your potential. Your growth. Your time. Your satisfaction. Your dreams. Your chance to create work that matters.
The unknown isn’t your enemy. The known that no longer serves you is.
If you’re ready to stop choosing familiar suffering and start building work that energizes rather than drains you, I help successful but unhappy professionals navigate this exact transformation. The fear is real, but it doesn’t have to be permanent. The question is: how many more of your dreams are you willing to sacrifice by not taking action?
Quotation I’ve Been Pondering
“Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.”
— Tim Ferriss
Journal Prompt
“What am I holding onto that no longer nourishes me?”
Until next week!!
Work and live well.
Tim
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