My mother-in-law just completed an amazing journey that started when she had a severe reaction to a minor and routine medical procedure. After three months in the hospital and nursing home followed by four months in -living she is back home.
Because of this we were visiting her recently assisted and due our travels couldn’t make dinner the first night until 7:00 pm. As we left her house she boldly announced that we wouldn’t be able to have dinner, “The restaurant will be closed. Only you Seattle people eat this late. Nobody eats this late here.”
Well, guess what? We arrived at the restaurant, the bar was two deep with people waiting for a table, we were lucky to have a reservation and when we left over an hour later all the tables were still full and the bar was still two deep.
Because she eats at 4:30-5:00 she assumed that everybody else does too. It’s the same in many businesses, large and small. It’s why we need outside eyes looking at our business, coaching us and offering new perspectives. Or we end up, “drinking our own Kool-Aid.”
Where I see this a lot is when there’s an attitude of, “We do it this way because we’ve always done it this way.” Get over it. Break the pattern, shake things up and create a spark of enthusiasm.
