“The years wrinkle our skin, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles our soul.”
-Socrates

The other day I finished up Adam Grant’s book Think Again and the last chapter had a really interesting concept, which he called “Identity Foreclosure.”

It was the idea that, at a young age, we tend to craft images of our what our lives should be like and then, as good, hardworking individuals, we commit and recommit to the path, even in the face of mounting evidence that it’s out of alignment with our values.

By “foreclosing” on our identities, we limit our options and prevent ourselves from “rethinking” what it is that we want to do with our lives.

As we get older, it’s less about money and more about meaning, but if we succumb to sunk cost fallacy and identity foreclosure, we risk delaying the moment where we find our true calling and the source of our enthusiasm, thus preventing a wrinkling of the soul.