How to Never Settle For Less Than Your Best

If you are like many of the people that I coach and work with, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.

From the end of last year until now, it seems the world has gone crazy.

Businesses that people thought could never go under went bankrupt.  GM – an icon of American spirit and business – went under and, along with other large companies that had to be bailed out or go bankrupt, dragged the U.S. economy down with it.

What has happened is "Trickle Down" economics in a bad way.  What started on Wall Street trickled down to Main Street.  Even Warren Buffet, the gozillionaire investor, has publicly stated the buyer behavior has changed, the markets have changed and businesses are going to have to change with them.

But, there is something even more dangerous – more sneaky, more poisonous and more deadly to the long-term health of the American economy and the American Spirit – that has accompanied this turn of events.

It is something NO ONE else is talking about.  It is right there in the news, on the Internet, at your local coffee shop and in almost every conversation I hear when talking with friends, family or businessmen.

It also one of the main things I have had to coach my private clients on – and I bet if you look and listen closely, you may catch yourself and others doing it, too…

People are settling.

They are settling for less mo-ney than they are worth. They are settling for the job they hate instead of trying to find a new one.  They are settling for the person they are dating instead of finding the right one.

They are settling for the job they have now instead of getting more education and trying to move up the ladder.  They are settling for a boss that bullies and pushes them around instead of standing up for themselves. 

They are settling for where they live, even though they want to move somewhere better.  Settling, settling, settling everywhere.

Why?

Because they are afraid.

It seems like in all this turmoil, people have taken on a defeatist or negative attitude – it's like America has a self-esteem problem all of a sudden.

It doesn't help when you the have OFL – Our Fearless Leader, The Obaminator – apologizing to the world about America's arrogance and past bad behavior – but, I digress.

America – Americans – are mongrels.  We are mutts.  We are the dogs that you get from the dog pound that are ugly as hell, but super-friendly, always optimistic and up for a game of catch or chase the stick, and we never, ever get sick or down in the dumps.  We are the optimists.  We are the ones who believe in the rights of the individual or, as stated in the Declaration of Independence,  "…Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

We are independent.  Our country was founded by a bunch of people who were getting bullied about their religion.  Instead of settling for the religious practices they were being told they had to follow, they decided to take a deadly voyage across the sea to find someplace where they could practice their beliefs the way they wanted to.

What would have become of America if THEY had settled?  Would there even BE an America?

What about our founding fathers?  They had it made.  They were kings of their individual little fiefdoms; they were basically royalty here in the colonies, working, making money, growing their businesses and their lands, but they were being taxed to death.

They could have settled. Do you think they wanted a war?  Do you think they wanted to see their fellow countrymen die because of decisions they made?  They were labeled traitors by their former country and had to live in fear of what would happen to them should they lose the war of independence.

But – they made the decision anyway.  They didn't settle.  Even though they could have just "gone along" and tolerated it because it was "too scary" to make the change, they did it.

And because they did, we ARE the United States of America, not the United Colonies of England.

I was in a relationship once, on and off for eight years.  Eight l-o-n-g years.  Don't get me wrong; there were good times in there that I will always cherish, but the simple fact was, we were wrong for each other.

What makes it a greater lesson is that I knew we were wrong for each other from the get-go, but I settled.

It wasn't "settling" because she wasn't worthy or anything like that – on the contrary, she was (and still is) beautiful, smart, funny and a wonderful person who is now happily married – but I was settling because she was not right for me.

It wasn't right – I knew it – but I stayed with the relationship anyway.

In the end, I was miserable, and so was she.  I hated myself, the situation, you name it.  When we did finally break up, it was like putting down a big anchor I had been carrying around.

The lesson I learned from the experience was priceless.  We both ended up better off, happier and married to the right people and more importantly, I learned what happens to your self-esteem and confidence when you settle for less than your best; for less than what it is you truly want.

Settling is the great enemy that faces America now.  Settling for anything less than what we truly want.  Settling for what we have out of fear.  Settling for less than we could be.

It is in times of crisis, in times of change, in times of fear that you must not settle.  These are the times where you are going to find out if you "have the stuff" – if you have what it takes to make it happen.

It's scary; it makes you want to panic.  It gives you those butterflies in the gut.  It makes you wake up at night in a cold sweat, wondering if you have lost your frickin' mind, attempting what you are trying to do or making the changes you want to make.

None of that matters.  What matters is that you have the stuff to DO IT.

If you don't , you are giving your power away.  You are giving it away to the economy, the media, the job, the boss, the relationship, you name it.

And that is un-American.

Take back your power.  Don't settle for anything.  Decide who you are, what you want and the GO GET IT.

The only thing that stands in the way of what you want and where you want to be – is you.

To your best,

Sensei Harrison Huff

P.S. – Settling doesn't just happen in the adult world; many kids are settling for getting picked on because they don't want to tell the teacher, they don't want to get in trouble or they don't want the bullying to get worse.  The fact is, settling for getting bullied will only make it worse over time, not better.  Make sure your kids – and yourself – NEVER settle for being bullied.  Get the course, "Bully Proof Kids" now from http://www.bullyproofkids.com/index1.html today.