The situations in which you did settle for less can offer you an opportunity to learn, to find out what you want - from having experienced what you do not want! Settling for less means having haven chosen to limit yourself and your potential, and in a way wastes some precious time. However if you learn from this, your time was not wasted because now you can think about what to do differently next time you are faced with such a choice.

Wrong Job?

Say you accepted a job offer mainly based on financial fears but you knew, in no uncertain terms, you were compromising yourself. You had enough security to ride it out a bit longer but not the courage to hold out for 'the right' one. It, no doubt, is a tall order to let a job offer go when you feel another one is not in sight. Fears have a lot of power over our decisions. If on some deeper level you knew this job was not really the right one you are choosing to live with the feeling of having undervalued yourself. Long term your heart and soul will let you know they do not appreciate the compromise!

Spiritually Thinking

To quote one of my favourite 'teachers', Caroline Myss: "Spiritually thinking; everything happens for a reason. We are able to learn from everything that happens to us. Both positive and negative occurrences are here to teach us something. If our path is to be true to ourselves and we live 'our' life, based on our values and our truths then everything that happens is happening to eventually lead us to our true life. There are no coincidences, again positive or negative. We can learn something from every thing."

Everybody knows the feeling of settling for less, at one time or another most people have been in jobs, just for the money offering no satisfaction, spend time with people you do not enjoy, go places you are not interested in, live through experiences of relationships that let you down, have friends that take advantage of you etc.

Staying in the Rut

Sometimes it is just easier to stay in a rut than find the courage to change something. It can be easier to settle than step out of your comfort zone. Settling in relationships that do not make you happy can often be the result of not wanting to be alone, or any other type of fear that keeps you stuck. If you suffer low Self Esteem, taking a look and finding ways to increase it, be this with self help literature, therapist or coach will lead you to better decision making, decisions based on what you want, not what your more insecure self wants! We most certainly do not have control over all the events in our life but we do have choices, even when it feels like we do not. Sometimes buying yourself some time, is the best decision based on the choice to say "No" in that moment, the other choice being saying "Yes".

Reasons not to compromise yourself

Settling for less, knowing that you are making a comprise makes life difficult. Difficult, because being in the wrong job, wrong relationship, and wrong anything does not make for a 'flowing' day-to-day life. Believe it or not, consciously or unconsciously, this leads you to self-sabotaging your own choice. When something is right for you and either keeps you, or puts you on your path for a fulfilled life, synchronicity sets in, good things appear out of nowhere, when not, obstacles surface. These obstacles are opportunities to learn. Follow the path of successful people who have, or found the courage to take risks (emotional or otherwise), value themselves enough to stay on the path to their ultimate goal which surely must a fulfilling life, which of course includes financial security, giving back and living within a code of ethics.