Posted by Lucinda Hazen on Wed, Dec 02, 2009
Realization Hits
Today, I started a diet.
I decided it was time to get serious when I stumbled upon a notebook where I'd jotted down my previous diet plans. It was dated just about a year ago - to the day!
As I looked over the stats from last year, I was chagrined. Since that commitment I have actually gained 10lbs and am in worse shape than ever! Why? What have I done wrong?
Well, the answers were actually pretty obvious:
- I hadn't done the daily workouts as I had outlined
- I was still eating at least 50% of my meals out (I had planned to start cooking my own healthier meals)
- I still only drink water when I have to swallow an aspirin
Like I said, the answers were obvious and now I'm relieved that I didn't waste my time and money on that rocket science course! It kind of reminds me of the definition of insane - "Doing the same things you've always done and expecting different results".
Well, now it's crunch time! (My abs will thank me later, but for now, I'm glad the rest of my day will be spent writing!) In our hotels and motels it can be the same way. Looking at our year-end figures propels us to do something. We panic as we know we must do more...with less. As I said, "It's crunch time!"
So, we plan for the upcoming year, make profit projections, plan events and marketing strategies and then we take that plan and put it somewhere safe - because after all it took a lot of thought and time and it must be protected and preserved. We then go back to the work that demands our attentions on any given day.
About 12 months later as we are cleaning out our desks to avoid having to open and respond to our email (ok, yes, I do that occasionally!) we find that note pad with the detailed plan and wonder what happened? Slowly, painfully, the realization sinks in - the target we were aiming for, is now even further away.
A Working, Breathing Plan
What was wrong with my original plan? I outlined everything that I was going to do to win the battle of the bulge...eat less, move more, drink water. It wasn't the plan that was flawed. It was the fact that I had, over time not even thought about it!
This means a constant scheduled review of your plan is essential. Perhaps the 1st of every month will work for you. Write it on your calendar for the next 12 months. Each time you review, determine, where you are in relation to your projections? What's working? Do more of it! What isn't? Decide to ditch it or tweak it and check back in another month. Our plans must remain flexible to remain relevant!
Of course then comes the fun part, implementation. No matter how well thought out your plan may be, it will be discarded along with that moldy green cottage cheese if you don't implement it!(oh yeah - that's right, I remember now, I was going to eat cottage cheese on my diet!)
So, what am I going to do differently to ensure that another year doesn't find me with yet another 10lbs and atrophied to the point of being bed-ridden? Obviously, reviewing my plan on more than an annual basis will be a good start!
So I'm going to try putting some of these practices I already use in our hotel management programs to the test at home! I know these principles are universal and so I'm confident that I'll be reporting back to you soon that the pounds are dropping!
I'd love to hear some of your success stories using this method at home and work, as well!
In Part II, I'll go into the implementation part of the process and how you can take direct effective steps to pare down expenses and firm up your, umm, bottom line! (I'm having way too much fun with these puns!)
Lucinda Hazen
Marketing Director and Partner - MotelMan Management and Receivers, LLC.
LucindaHazen@gmail.com
Twitter: Infocus23
Lucinda, with over a 25year background in sales and marketing, consults with businesses looking to increase their market share through positioning. She also has extensive Project Management experience that lends itself to developing operating processes in service industries that yield results. The mother of three grown sons, she resides in Colorado with her husband.