Going the extra step

 We do stay in hotels sometimes and it is nice when you are recognized as a valued guest and in our case a member of the chain’s loyalty club. In a lot of cases when we are staying at the hotel, we will receive bottle water or something else as a preferred member. It is nice when the chain does this little bit extra.

This last stay that we did was a return trip to a hotel that we have enjoyed staying at. It is not a large hotel (5 floors) but it is very well kept and the staff have all been very friendly and helpful. This time when we arrived and were checking in, we were welcomed back and also welcomed as a member of the loyalty program. What was different this time was we received a different gift as were we a returning guest to this location. The front desk person went to the back and returned with a bag that had a hand written note on the bag that said “Welcome back" and inside the bag as a bottle of water, a small package of two bite brownies and a bag of potato chips. Yes, this was a lot different than we normally receive and it was nice and not expected.

Being recognized as a loyalty club member is always nice and even getting a bottle of water is always welcomed. Being recognized as a returning guest to this specific location was very special. It doesn't take a lot of effort for a hotel to make a difference in how they are viewed. Having staff that are friendly also makes a big difference on how hotel is viewed and recommended. I know that I have told a few people about this specific location because of how we have been treated in the past. 

For a hotel to go the extra step to make sure that guests feel comfortable and welcomed does go a long way in ensuring that people will return to a specific location again. I know that we will be returning to this location in the future because it is a nice escape from home and also a nice spot where we can relax. This last trip there was a hockey team also staying at the hotel while we were there but you wouldn't have guessed it because the team was very quiet.

So if you stay at a specific hotel chain and are recognized for being a loyalty club member, it shows that the chain cares. When a specific location does that little bit extra make sure that when you do the review of your stay you mention that because it shows the chain that people appreciate the little things even if it isn't something they always do. 

 

Spending time with family

It is always important to spend time with family, and it can vary how that is achieved. Something that happened thanks to the pandemic is families figured out various ways to spend time together. Spending time together doesn't just have to be in person, it can now be through various virtual get-togethers. It can be nice to be able to spend time together when people are living in different parts of the country or even the world.

During the pandemic when people couldn't travel what we did was on Christmas Eve was we did a virtual get-together, and it involved people in 8 different locations, and it was nice. It meant that everyone could visit with each other and also not have to travel. In our case, 7 of the locations were in Canada (two provinces) and one group over in Prague. It was nice to be able to celebrate and spend that bit of time together.

Other example of spending time together through social media is my husband's family started doing a chat once a month and that was 7 people being able to chat for some time and that was 3 difference provinces. It was always nice when they were able to do this, and this has continued since the pandemic.

Sure, it is nice to see family in person when it is possible, but there are times when distance doesn't make it possible. Finding various ways to visit with family is so important nowadays given the distances between family. What I have noticed is more and more people are using various virtual techniques to visit with family on a regular basis. It does mean that when you have the opportunity to spend time together in person, that time is valued.

Spending time together even if it is virtually is still spending some time catching up and sharing different things.  So next time when you think that the distance is too far to travel to visit someone maybe try and set up a virtual chat, it can make a big difference.

Writing goals

I think the ones of us that do quite a bit of writing normally have some goals that they want to meet. It can be the number of words a day or the number of pages, it doesn’t matter but it can also become something that can affect how you write and what you write. Having writing goals can help you stay focused, but it can also impact you emotionally if you aren’t having a good writing day.

Recently I had been having some really good writing days and was seeing an average number of words that was making me extremely happy and then I had a day that just wasn’t quite as good as the previous days, and it started to bother me. Yes, I was still writing, and I should have been happy with the number of words that I achieved but it started to upset me. What I didn’t see was that the number of words that I had been writing was a lot higher than I have written most months since 2018. It did bother me when I looked at just the month of January and saw that the average was going to come down a little bit, but I forgot that just being able to spend the time what I did writing should be what makes me happy.

Setting writing goals sure can help you move things forward but when you have some exceptional writing days you have to remember to think about them as exceptional days and be happy about them. After doing some thinking after getting frustrated with what was still a good writing total, I started to look back at the number of words that I had averaged through all the months I have tracked my writing and how much I had been writing at the beginning of January was extremely high.

What I did end up doing was adjusting my writing goal a little bit and figured that I should be happy with an average that is a little lower because that is making sure that I can get the writing done that I want to do. Also, if I don’t reach this new average, I am also going to be ok with what I am able to accomplish because I am still writing each day and that is part of what is important to me. Sure, I would love to see an average like I was achieving in early 2018 and late 2017, but I also have to accept that times have changed and the how I write has also changed.  

Setting writing goals that are pushing you too hard can impact what you are writing and how you are writing, and you have to remember that. Maybe, seeing a high writing total would be nice but are you just putting word onto paper to see that total or are you writing with a focus and understanding that words are just what is important is how the thoughts and ideas are coming out.

Getting organized

 For a lot of us, the change of the calendar from one year to another results in us trying to get organized again. For some people it can be a large change in how organization work, and for others it can just be doing that bit of cleaning that you have been putting off. For businesses, it is also a time, especially If it is also their year-end, a time to get all those old files moved and new files set up.

It is always interesting when you look at some stores in the New Year and what is available, storage boxes, file folders, etc. because these companies know what people are going to be wanting to do. I know that sometimes right after Christmas all the various storage boxes are in the stores and available knowing that a lot of people are going to be grabbing those up to start that yearly organization routine.

For businesses with year-end there are a lot of different things that need to get done from setting up the new files and moving the old files, but there are also those once-a-year things that need to be completed and remembering how to do each of them can be a challenge. It can be a challenge to remember everything that needs to be completed, but that is when some good documentation comes in handy to help you get those things done on a timely basis.

Getting organized either at work or in your personal life can be a challenge and of course there are going to be things that will probably be missed but starting the year off right does make a difference. For us, in the past year I decided to set up all the standard files that I use on the computer each year for our business, what this means is that when it’s time to start the new year of financial records I just have to copy one folder and change the year, and the files are ready. Having a lot of the various standard files set up and just be able to copy them to a new folder does make getting things started so much easier.

Working on getting organized can be a challenge no matter what it is, but especially at the beginning of the year it can feel a little overwhelming, and we need to take just one step at a time and see how things go. I hope you can get everything organized the way you want it but don’t rush or get stressed because it is a process that takes some time to get done.