He did not hold his ground or calculate whether he might still be able to keep the salmon. We carry both calculations at once: what we have already spent, and what continuing will still cost us. Ask instead: If I were deciding today, for the first time, knowing everything I know now, would I choose this? A "no" does not mean the decision has already been made for you. It was commitment, once the weight of what he'd already spent stopped being part of the equation.