How to Stop Settling for Less!

What Are Your Settling For?

I’ll be the first to admit, I am a creature of habit. And it’s habit-what we are accustomed to-that is the genesis of settling. This could apply in your personal life, or in your work. It could be in what you settle for from the team you lead, or the company you started.

Look around you. What are you settling for?
“The minute you settle for less than you deserve, 
you get even less than you settled for.”
– Maureen Dowd – American Columnist for The New York Times
Does your business accept all clients, because you need the revenue? Have you made a hire recently that is less than spectacular because the candidate market is tight?
Have you decided to lower your expectations in your job search because you are nervous about how long you’ve been out of work? Let’s say you are changing jobs. Should you accept the first job offer because your current position is so stressful?
great work - steve jobs quoteJack Canfield says, “One of the main reasons most people don’t get what they want is because they haven’t decided what they want.”
Do you remember the Monster.com commercial from a few years ago, “When I Grow Up”? It featured a series of young children stating what they want to be when they grow up, but with a humorous twist. Here are a few choice lines.
When I grow up, I want to:
  • Be washed up by the time I’m 40
  • Be replaced on a whim
  • Have a brown nose
  • Be underappreciated and underpaid
  • Be a “yes” man
Who you are is what you settle for, you know?
– Janis Joplin
The point? Somewhere along the way, you may have settled. Sometimes we take the job because we need to pay our bills. That’s understandable. It’s staying in that job because it’s easier than working toward something better that’s the problem.
Even if it means taking a baby step, find the place where you can stop settling. It could be:
  • Coming to your review with documentation of accomplishments that meet specific goals to support a raise, and presenting the information in a professional manner
  • Directly but calmly telling your tardy staff member to be on time and following up with an appropriate consequence if they are late again
  • Respectfully declining the client that isn’t a good fit for your business
What is one way you can take a small step toward getting what is best for you, instead of settling?
Tell us your story of raising expectations. How did it help your career or business? We would love to share it in our next newsletter.
How can we help you get more of what you deserve?
If you are not willing to risk the unusual, 
you will have to settle for the ordinary.
Jim Rohn – American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker