Don’t change your life — change your day. When you think about it, it really makes sense. Only you have the ability to turn the day around from a day that brings you down because of the stressful situations that are flung at you from the time you wake up until the time you retire for the day, to a day where you capitalize on the stress and use it to motivate you, to turn it around, and accomplish what you set out to do.
It is simple, according to Andy Core, the keynote speaker at the Certification Educational Event. When you wake up in the morning instead of cursing the alarm and hitting the snooze button, take time to think about why you go to work every day. Remind yourself why you do what you do. Put a positive spin on it. Instead of thinking “I have to go to work to pay the mortgage because no one else will,” change it to “I am proud to be the one who can provide a home and a good lifestyle for me and my family.
As Andy put it “Bring a better version of yourself to your work and your loved ones.” If you have a positive attitude when your feet hit the floor, the world around you is going to seem like a better place to live in. When I am having a great day there is nothing that can get in my way and bring me down. I can take everything in stride and put a flip on the stressful situations that are delivered to my doorstep. And believe me, in the hospitality industry there are many. When I am having a “down” day, the stress rules my day and brings me down further.
I realize that only I can change my day, not the world around me. It is up to me to chisel away at the roadblocks by visualizing the end product. Only I can concentrate on the elements of the day that put me in the mindset to contribute and put the stress in its place.
So, tomorrow I am still going to hit the snooze button, because I relish that 10 minutes between the first alarm and the second. But instead of starting my day reviewing my to do list, I am going to remind myself of the end product — I do what I do because I love making a difference. That difference might be walking away from a contract negotiation with a better product and a better price or as simple as just putting a smile on someone’s face. I will try to visualize that goal when stress knocks on my office door. Because keeping my focus on the end product will help me turn it into positive stress and use it to my advantage.
Jane Schmitz, CHAE is the controller for the Shannopin Country Club in Pittsburgh, Penn. She has a bachelors in Computer Science from Iowa State University. After 17 years as the controller of an architectrual firm, she decided to move into the hospitality industry and accepted the position at Shannopin Country Club in October of 2010. Immediatley she became a member of HFTP and just recently earned her CHAE.
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