Home Pastors Pastor How To's Michael Hyatt: Don't Settle for Less Than Great

Michael Hyatt: Don't Settle for Less Than Great

We swam for more than an hour. Eventually, as we neared the shore, we stood up in the shallow water. We trudged up to the beach and collapsed in the sand. We were utterly exhausted. We realized just how close we had come to disaster. This was not the outcome we had intended when we innocently slipped into the water that morning.

So much of life is similar to this experience. You start out with one thing in mind and then, without consciously intending to do so, end up in an entirely different location. It is the power of the drift.

Now think of drift in the context of creating a product, service, or cause.

If you’ve worked in the corporate world, you’ve attended that first Big Vision Meeting. Someone has a dream for an exciting and compelling product. This is how many wow products are born. People are energized. The creative spigot is turned on. The ideas flow. The room is alive with possibility.

But then we come to the second meeting. A few people report on the assignments they were given. Maybe they share a sketch, a proposal, or a demo. It’s not bad; in fact, it’s pretty good. But it just doesn’t quite match up with our expectations. Something is missing.

Everyone is polite. A few even make suggestions. But somewhere deep inside, you realize that the dream has taken a hit. It hasn’t died, of course. But it has been dialed back—calibrated to the reality of deadlines, budgets, and limited resources.

A similar process can happen for individuals who set out to create something, whether a book, a record album, or even a comedy routine. It’s easy to “settle.”

At this very moment, you face a decision. Will you take a stand for the original vision, or will you—and everyone else in the room—be swept out to sea, drifting along with the current, oblivious to what is happening?