Recently I attended an employee recognition dinner where I heard a nice story that recounted the hiring of one of those being honored.

The manager telling the story said he interviewed this employee first, and was so impressed he begged HR to cancel all the other interviews - as he found “the guy” on interview #1. It was a great tribute to the employee and we all were impressed that someone could knock the socks off a hiring manager like that. We certainly were lucky to have him on our team.

Then I started thinking about it.

And I realized this: what the manager did was Give Up on the Possibility. The possibility that interview #2, 10 or 25 could have knocked his socks off even more. That someone else could have reshaped what he thought the perfect employee might look like. The possibility that better is out there.

An even better story would have been this: I interviewed “Ron” first and he absolutely blew me away. He was the guy I wanted to hire. But I wanted to be sure, so I interviewed 30 more outstanding candidates wondering if one of those could top “Ron” – and none of them even came close. The first interview ended up being the best and the right fit for us.

Now that’s a story worth telling.

When you give up on the possibility, what you end up doing more often than not is settling. Settling for good enough, when great is just around the corner. Settling is no way to win the game.

Please, please, please – never give up on the possibility.

There is magic in possibility. There is hope. Dreams. Perfection. Happiness. Greatness.

There is everything in the possibility.

But you’ll never experience it if you take what’s behind door number one.