Don’t Stop

I read a story recently that I believe hold some lessons for us. Here goes, “a few years ago I was getting these really insane water bills. I mean HIGH! So I decided to dig some wells in my yard to have water. So I hired a company to come to dig these wells. The foreman and I walked all around my yard and as we were walking he was putting down flags. I asked what the flags were for. He said, “The flags represent good places to dig for water.” I asked, “Why do you have so many flags?” He said, “I’m not sure if any of these places will produce water.” I said, “Hold up, you mean if you dig all these spots and don’t hit water I still have to pay you?” He said, “Yes, that’s how it goes.” I said, “Ok, fine.” Needless to say, he dug three wells and never hit water. I said, “Just stop.”

I got a few more extreme water bills and called him back. He said, “Are you sure?” I said, “Yes, keep drilling until you hit water.” The next well he dug he was down 500 feet and still didn’t hit any water. He asked if I wanted him to stop. I said, “Go deeper.” He dug down another 200 feet and still nothing. I said, “Go deeper.” He drilled another 200 feet and he hit a rock. I said, “Blast it, cut it, do whatever you have to do but keep digging.” After fighting the rock and breaking his drill and getting a new one we got a little deeper.

He said, “We are at 1,200 feet, why do you want me to keep going?” I said, “because I’m tired of the water bills and I have to do something about it.” I asked him if he had hit water yet. He said “no,” so I told him to go deeper. “But you don’t understand,” he said. “We don’t usually drill this deep,” I told him that, “Sometimes you have to go deeper to get what you are after, no matter what the cost.” He started the machine and went down another four inches and hit a river of water.