New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep
New Year’s Resolutions You Can Keep By Scott Bushnell Aahhh…New Year’s Resolutions…those tidbits of short-term, good intentions that are quickly forgotten. Many folks don’t even make them anymore. Why bother? Life’s priorities and hassles dominate our time. There isn’t any time left to waste on New Year’s resolutions that will fade away only to reappear on next New Year’s radar screen. Inns have New Year’s Resolutions, too. Perhaps you have always intended on getting a guest comment card process in place. Do the guests feel there are things I could do better? Or, if only I could remember to ask where they heard about us so I can improve the effectiveness of my marketing plans. Or, I wonder how guests really feel about the breakfasts I serve. All inns have opportunities to improve, and those who think they don’t may be out of touch with their guests. There are three reasons why resolutions fail so easily: 1. Biting Off More Than We Can Chew We often make too many at once. Losing 25 pounds, saving $100 per month, regular flossing, being nice to the neighbor who fought your zoning variance request, going to church regularly…they are all worthy goals to attain. But the human energy reservoir only has a fixed amount of will power. If 90% is spent resisting carbs to lose the 25 pounds, there is little left to apply to other good intentions. And if your energy is spent 10% toward 10 resolutions, they are all doomed to failure. In a science study, two groups of people were placed in rooms with a puzzle that had no solution. The test was to measure their persistence to stick with the task despite frustrations. One group had a plate of fresh-baked cookies on the table and the other group had a plate of sliced cucumbers. Both groups were told NOT to touch the food because the food was for the next group coming in. Which group persisted the longest on the puzzle? The group with the cookies gave up on the puzzle sooner because a great deal of their energy reservoir was exhausted resisting the cookies. The cucumber group persisted longer on the puzzle because resisting their temptation was no big deal. So don’t take on more than your energy reservoir can handle. One resolution at a time is enough. 2. Be Specific With Your Action Plan The second reason resolutions fail is that the behaviors to reach the goal are not specific. They need plans for frequency, duration, measurement, and corrective actions. For example, losing 25 pounds is a worthy goal, but without a specific action plan, you will fail. If your plan, however, is to exercise 3 times per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, with Tuesdays and Thursdays as back-ups for scheduling conflicts), resisting carbs by eating NO bread, potatoes, or pasta, weighing in every Saturday morning and charting progress, your likelihood of success is much higher. It is also known that doing something for 30 days becomes a lasting habit. You know it has become your routine when you find yourself not having to force yourself onto the treadmill. In fact, you feel yourself being pulled to the routine, and you feel guilty if you resist the pull. Any desired behavior can become your routine in 30 days of specific actions. That is why taking on only one goal at a time is doable. In a year you can reach 12 goals! Imagine how that could change your life or your business! 3. Have Motivations Larger Than Yourself The third reason why resolutions fail is that they are often tied to the wrong motivation. The reason why the goal is important to you could keep you from draining your energy reservoir before the goal is attained. Self-centered reasons typically are not strong enough motivations to keep us moving toward the goal. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gained that extra 25 pounds in the first place. But if we are motivated by something greater than ourselves, it is a more meaningful goal to attain. Don’t try to lose the weight for vanity’s sake, to fit into those jeans you’ve wanted to wear. Set the goal for a bigger reason, a personal reason perhaps only important to you, a reason bigger than self. Perhaps your mother died at age 47 of heart disease and you don’t want to put your kids through that kind of pain at an early age. Or, perhaps you put the dollar you would have spent on carbs into a jar and donate the proceeds to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. One of the commitments I’ve personally made is walking three times a week for exercise…a giant leap of a commitment for a couch potato like me. While forcing myself out to walk, I noticed a great deal of litter strewn on the streets and sidewalks, often blown around by the constant winds of Ocean City. Now, each time I walk, I take 2 or 3 of those plastic shopping bags with me and do about a gazillion deep knee bends in addition to walking. It added additional exercise as well as tidying up all the streets within a couple of miles of home. Last Monday a car pulled up along the curb. I assumed it was to ask directions. A woman rolled down the window and handed me a $25 gift card to Applebee’s. When I refused (“I do this for exercise”) she insisted she had been watching me picking up the litter for some time now and wanted to give me a Christmas gift as a thank you. “Please take my gift” she insisted. I will never forget the experience. Now I am not picking up the litter on the streets for exercise. I am doing it for my neighbors in Ocean City who really appreciate it…a reason much more compelling than the desire to get a little exercise…a reason bigger than a self-centered one. What are the greater motivations for you at your inn? Your guests are not just looking for a bed…they can get that at the Holiday Inn. They look for the experience, the connection to you, the innkeeper, and the personalized welcome that makes them feel at home. They seek a memory with surprising and unexpected services that burn that memory into their hearts. Select ONE habit you would like to set in place at your inn. Set specific behaviors and measurements with established frequencies, and don’t do it to build your business. Do it for the guests who will wonder at the detail and completeness of their experience at your inn. Force yourself to the behaviors for 30 days until you feel the pull. Then enjoy the satisfaction of a goal attained and everlasting. The business will build itself.