Persevere Vs. Cut your losses

Early on in my career, I struggled to understand the difference between when to persevere VS. when to let go & cut your losses. Over time the lines have become less blurry, though still subjective.

Persevere for things we aspire towards, and where we feel there is a probability of success with hard work and the accompanying ecosystem (even if we have to build it). Reason for continuing to stay invested is our assessment of the future potential, not the past efforts spent.

Cut your losses and move on when we hope (vs aspire) for things to turn up a certain way. When the driver of staying invested is the past effort (or cost) spent, it's time to move on. Let not the sunk cost, sink you further. This is as true for the stock market as it is for our careers.

A toxic or myopic work environment won't become better just because we hope for it and we have spent a few months/years working there, just like a fundamentally weak stock is unlikely to rise because we bought it at a high price in the past.