Determining Your Own Success in Hospitality

By Daniel Zolinski | May 17, 2024

Last night was one of my worst nights of sleep. I was laying in bed at 9:30pm, wrote down my tasks to accomplish for today, and shut the lights off. I typically like to fall asleep on my left side, but I couldn’t get comfortable. My mind was racing, so I flipped to my right side to see if that would help. It turned out unsuccessful. So, I flipped back to my left side, to my back, angled myself on the bed, yet nothing worked. It was 11:43pm at this point. “I have to be up in 5 hours,” I thought to myself. Although the deep sleep I typically get was thwarted by a restless mind, there was a topic of conversation that presented itself.

I’ve talked extensively on social media about success; both in personal life and hospitality. I had a limiting belief on what it meant to be successful and where you needed to be to be successful, but success is subjective. It’s different for everyone. YOU get to determine that for yourself, which is exciting, yet daunting. To help you determine your own level of success in hospitality, I put together a list of “C’s” that will help guide you along your hospitality journey.

Commit

Where do you want to be 6 months, 1 year, and even 5 years from now? It can be overwhelming thinking about how to get there on strict timeframes, but if you commit to breaking down the steps into daily actions, you’re more than capable. Your brain needs to be focused for 10-20 minutes to get into flow state. These minutes feel long and boring, so people will distract themselves to avoid it, but if you commit yourself to entering this state, you’ll be invigorated to do more.

Challenge

Flow happens when you’re engaging in tasks that are just above your current skill level. If the task is too easy, your brain won’t focus. Maybe your menu needs to be revamped, a conference that you don’t want to attend but know would be beneficial, or people you need to follow up with to form deeper hospitality relationships. In any hospitality circumstance, follow the 10% rule – do tasks 10% above your current skill level.

Clear Goal

Your mind needs a clear goal to get into and stay in flow. Be very specific on the task at hand with a set time frame. You don’t need to rush, but this will create deeper focus.

Clear Distractions

Nothing kills flow like distractions. The average worker gets distracted every 3 minutes and it takes them an average of 23 minutes to refocus. No wonder that flow is so elusive.

You’ll notice the four “C’s” above all stem from the mind. It’s doing things that are slightly uncomfortable, yet extremely rewarding. Your own feeling of success will grow more powerful the more you dedicate yourself to incorporating these steps in your hospitality role.

You are not an average person, everything you need is already within you, and may you find your own success in the amazing world of hospitality.