# Settling for Less

Source: https://dairycoach.com/settling-for-less/
Published: 2015-07-29
Author: Tom Wall

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Do you know anyone who would get on a plane being flown by the “least drunk” pilot, marry the only single person left in their town, or hire the cheapest heart surgeon they can find?  Probably not.

Nonetheless, every time we make a decision, we find ourselves settling for something. And if you’re like most people, you probably think settling is a bad thing. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes you’re not able to or willing to invest any more time, money, energy, passion, or talent to find what you really want or need. In those cases you opt for a “good enough” version of what you originally sought.

Against your own best judgment, you choose the cheapest, or the most convenient, or the friendliest, or the most available, or the fastest. You take the path of least resistance and make a decision that simply focuses on getting the job done. Then when it doesn’t work out, you’re tempted to complain that you got a bad deal.

But if you’re truly honest with yourself, you’ll admit that chose to settle for what you believed was the best option at the time.  Unfortunately, most people give up before reaching the actual “end-of-the-road”.  They believe they’ve exhausted all of their resources when they actually haven’t.  They quit before finishing the entire sentence.

Have you ever convinced yourself that the following sentence is true?  “This is the best we can find.” But then you realized that it’s not true until you finish the sentence with one or more of the following…

- for the money we want to spend.
- for the time we want to look.
- for the energy we can devote to it.
- for the number of candidates we care to consider.
- for the distance we want to search.

Ultimately, hiring and promoting people tends to be a trade-off. And if you’re like most people, the pressure of urgency will probably convince you to trade your long-term needs for a short-term solution. Although some business owners will continue searching weeks or months to fill a key role, most will simply opt for the most available and expedient option without realizing they created and imposed limits on themselves by not reaching farther or trying harder.

It’s your business and the stakes are always high. Are you willing to invest in finding what you truly need, or will you settle for something less?