Page Turn to 2023!

Posted on December 29th, 2022

Wow what another year 2022 was. But, sitting here late in December 2022, the year 2023, has nothing but opportunity for anyone in our world of hospitality and the services we provide.

How will you make the most of this new year? What opportunities do you see right in front of you? Maybe you can’t see them clearly yet, but they are there. Don’t leave any idea off your radar. It is likely worthy of some consideration, exploration, and vetting to see if it can elevate your program, department, or service.

Daily there are challenges that we try to address now. Most times that solution is the best ‘band aide’ we have. Don’t you wish you had time to do more with that challenge than just put a band-aid on it? Can you take that next step and elevate that solution by a degree or two?

Elevating ideas and solutions to that level take some time to develop. Giving yourself or your team the time to thoughtfully consider an idea’s pros and cons will ultimately get a better, more long-term result.

One famous company, Nike, faced a problem they had to solve as their brand recognition was growing and this problem was costing the company millions. It had to ‘fix’ the issue for the long term. They could not afford just a quick fix. The problem: their shoes were being manufactured all over the world and most in rather poor countries and they found that the factory workers took a pair (or two) of shoe home with them. How did they solve that problem? What would you do? (Drop a note to us and we will share what they did).

So, beyond just time, the other things you and your teams can do to help in a creative process include:

Look outside your normal circle of information, friends, and peers. These people will not have the same blinders on as you do and therefore can look at your problem from a different perspective.
Read and watch more. Books, articles, YouTube videos, and anything else to help you hear or see something unique that you can apply to your situation. As an example, I reviewed a video that had nothing to do with my day-to-day business but found that the technology they were showing would apply to a client’s situation. This created the opportunity for me to share that platform idea with the client and they are now developing a program using it.
Do something random routinely! We all get into our ruts of habits, places, and people. Change that up. Start with something small, like try that new restaurant or a restaurant you have never been to. But then ramp that up to do something that challenges or stretches you. Take a class on a topic that you have no knowledge about. Then see how you can apply things and guess what this will help with our first suggestion…find new people!
When a thought or idea is presented, take time to list assumptions about that idea. Why would it work or not work? As you list assumptions sometimes more ideas pop up or better ideas!
If you have ‘grand’ ideas to the point you think unattainable…get those down on paper. Starting with the big ‘wish’ will pull your thinking to a broader solution or maybe multi-step to achieve your solution. But as they say DREAM Big!
Make notes about your ideas that are closest to what you do daily. The ability to have some way to capture ideas that are just floating out there when you are in your normal work mode may prompt you to a new idea. I have a book that I keep a to-do list in and then pages of notes between them. I circle the ones that could be interesting to explore at a time that is quiet, like on an airplane ride…not as many distractions allow me more thinking time.
Do you do any of the online or paper brain games – Wordle™, Sudoku™, Crossword, Cards, or Puzzles? They are all meant to engage your brain in different ways, helping short-term memory or mental focus. Backing them up is research showing that brain-training games may help improve attention levels, memory¹, response time, logic skills, and other measures of cognitive function if played over a long timespan².
What else can jump-start creativity? A great article by Johns Hopkins suggests music! And they suggested that listening to your favorites is nice and even pleasurable, however, the article pushes you to choose music that is new, think of your kid’s music genre! This forces the brain to struggle to understand the new sound.

We hope you are ready to jump into 2023 with all your optimistic and creative juices turned on to full! Enjoy the year and make the most of it. Let us know your most brilliant stroke of genius and how you transformed a program, idea, problem, or dream.

References

Al-Thaqib A, Al-Sultan F, Al-Zahrani A, et al. Brain training games enhance cognitive function in healthy subjects. Med Sci Monit Basic Res. 2018;24:63-69. doi:10.12659%2FMSMBR.909022
Hampshire A, Sandrone S, Hellyer PJ. A large-scale, cross-sectional investigation into the efficacy of brain training. Front Hum Neurosci. 2019;13:221. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00221