Have you ever settled for less than what you wanted and found yourself bitterly disappointed in relaxing your standards? I know I have. I cannot begin to count the number of times I have allowed someone to talk me into accepting less than I was promised or asked for.
As a way of teaching myself not to fall for these tactics again I decided that my acceptable fallback position would be “nothing less than ordinary”. What that means is that I always seek out something exceptional in every deal or offer I consider. If there is nothing special about the deal then I don’t take it unless I absolutely must, forced to by circumstances.
This way if something goes wrong and I have to accept a last minute substitution I am more likely to be offered a fair “ordinary” deal. This could be a room at a hotel, a meal at a restaurant, or even a car at a dealership.
Never Settle for Less than What You Want
Ask for what you want, but ask for more than you are willing to accept. That philosophy is helping me to realize that life is not always determined to serve me lemons. Sometimes I just fall into the rut of having to make lemonade.
Here is an example of how a business might trick you into accepting a bad deal by making it sound like a good deal. I walked into a fast food restaurant and ordered a single item. The girl at the cash register asked me, “Would you like to buy two for only $2.98?” That sounds like a good deal but I asked her, “How much is one?” She said a single item would only cost $1.49. So I wasn’t going to save any money by buying two but the restaurant would have made an extra sale.
A business may try to sell you more than you need. You should buy only what you can use and ask for more than you need. In this situation I could have bought less expensive and healthier snack foods. We don’t give ourselves enough time to appreciate what we have at home, when we are hungry.
Don’t Shortchange Yourself
You want an average outcome for every ordinary task because if you accept less than that you are cheating yourself. We short-change ourselves, or allow ourselves to be cheated, through inattention and negligence. We are lazy. We must look at the details of every offer and counter-offer to be sure the business is not trying to take advantage of us.
Being aware of the small tricks businesses play on their unwitting customers gives you an advantage in the everyday negotiation process. We don’t haggle over price any more. Now we haggle over quantity, availability, and quality. Always get more bang for your buck because once the money is gone your leverage is gone.
Life is a little more complicated than we would like it to be, so we might as well get our money’s worth.
How to Pursue Your Goals and Dreams
We are taught that the Wright brothers were the first men who succeeded in developing a machine for powered flight. But the French stubbornly insist that Clement Ader deserves that distinction because – they say – his strange contraption really did fly before it crashed. They honored him with a stamp in 1938.
Although the world may never agree on the success of Ader’s machine, it’s easy to see that the Wright brothers developed a more efficient and safer way to fly. So there is no need to take anything away from Ader’s experiment and success.
Some people hope to become wealthy one day. Most of them play the lottery or they contribute money to a retirement plan. They are dreaming small and safe dreams. And yet self-made millionaires are found in many stories. It is the person who pursues their vision with confidence and perseverance who is most likely to succeed. Life is too short to wait for things to happen.
Money is the lifeblood of the economy. But do you really need to make it the focus of your life? Success comes in small ways.
Still, if you’re struggling to make ends meet you’ll search for ways to earn more money. Every system is imperfect so you may need to experiment with a few ideas before you find one that works for you.
We can only do our best in life, but if we do less than that then we can’t say we’ve pursued our dreams. We can only say we waited for something magical to happen.
