The TIME for Reflection and Resolutions

Thoughts from Julia, to all of our hospitality friends and family.

Let’s all take a moment to give ourselves a pat on the back for the amazing work we did in 2018.

REFLECTION

Do it. Take just 15 minutes to write down all the achievements of the year. You will be amazed how much you have accomplished!

I know the year isn't technically over yet, but when you get to December 31st and you feel like the year flew by, you might start to beat yourself up and feel like you could have achieved more ... produced more at work, spent more time with your family, taken better care of your health, etc. — don't let this drag you down! Reflecting on accomplishments will help you realize how well you actually did in 2018.

We are living in a time where there are too many things to do, too many people to take care of, and never enough time. That’s a fact. But if you can look past the stress of it all, you will see that we are truly living wonderful and productive lives. We deserve to take the time and recognize all we have done!!

I took my 15 minutes to reflect and landed with these two lists. I would encourage everyone to create their own lists and share!

JW Meeting Solutions and HPN Global Accomplishments

JW Meeting Solutions grew! We added Audrey Ciccone as a collaborator to the team in 2017, but her great impact in 2018 is more than worthy of positive recognition. Lexi Luboda joined our team over the summer, and we are hiring a new PT employee next month and an intern next year! That is over 250% growth in our team!
Between JW Meeting Solutions and HPN Global, we worked with over 13 clients on more than 15 programs, putting on events for over 8,000 people!
This year, we saved our clients an average of 26% on their contract negotiations and buying. We even saved one client over 55% from what they paid before by sourcing through HPN Global!
I (Julia) won a Breakthrough Award from HPN Global at the beginning of the year, thanks to the support of a great team helping balance time to grow the business and because of HPN Global's incredible support!
We received more referrals from our clients and industry partners than ever before and this is why we will continue to grow.
JW Meeting Solutions was chosen to be the planners for MPI Cascadia! We are honored to work with our peers to create incredible education and networking for meeting professionals in the NW.
The company increased profits by 400% — we are a startup, so don’t think that is a lot of money, but it is still quite an accomplishment… it took a while to ramp up!
JW Meeting Solutions gave back to community through volunteerism, donations, and partnerships.
JW Meeting Solutions just celebrated 4 years as a company!

Julia Willmott's Personal Accomplishments

I lost 32 lbs. YES, this is super personal to post on a work blog, but it is an important part of my healthy lifestyle journey and work/life balance. As the CEO, I have learned that it is so hard to find balance, but it is possible. If you are a client, you know I work from a place of sincere honesty... sometimes TMI. When I started the company, my health took the backseat. It was a big problem I needed to correct, and I did!
We attended several weddings, went to fun family functions, and welcomed so many beautiful babies into the world with our friends in 2018.
I took up hiking as a new hobby. “Slow mountain walking,” as my husband, Brandon would call it.
We relocated closer to family, moving headquarters to Las Vegas to be near loved ones much more often in-between all of the awesome work travel.
We are looking forward to new adventures next year, with Brandon taking on a new career for a startup company…who knows, maybe we will produce all of their meetings too!

It feels good to celebrate! Trust me, my list of things not done is long too, BUT it cannot take away from what we all did in 2018!

Reflect, celebrate, and then think about what you can do better.

NOTE: Better doesn’t mean more.

It simply means living with more intention, recognizing the choices we have every day that help us in finding the best ways to spend our time.

RESOLUTION

Resolutions are important for me to mention because I have the incredible privilege of working with several empowering entrepreneurs, meeting planners, marketing executives, hotel partners, working moms and dads, and hospitality leaders who battle with the most valuable thing we all have each day: TIME.

For those who know they do great work, but look back to their resolutions that never seem to change: this is for you! Hopefully you will find a takeaway from what I have learned about resolutions in my own life.

I constantly get asked how I manage my time. How can I work on so many projects, own a business, and still find time to play? Well, I am not perfect. I suffer from exhaustion, too. But there are some things that I found to be helpful when I feel like I'm sinking and need a life raft to get through the day:

Each year I review the foundations of my life (family, friends, career, community, health, education, travel) and write down what I want most in each area — it sits on my desk!
When I get asked to do something, be somewhere, etc., and before I answer with "I am too busy," I think back to my foundations and what I consider most important, remembering what a speaker once said:

“Stop replying to people and things by saying 'I am busy and don’t have time.' Instead reply with YOU or THAT is not a priority to me and my life.”

For example...

Friend: Can we meet for coffee? I have had a hard week.
Me: YOU are NOT a priority to me and my life, but I have time to watch TV.

Client: I know you have other projects and this is last minute, but can you get on a call to review something with me for a few minutes?
Me: My client relationships and my company are NOT a priority to me and my life.

Me: Do I have time to take a break and get a walk in today?
Me: HEALTH is NOT a priority to me and my life.

Wow! Can you imagine talking to others this way? Can you imagine telling your mother that your report due tomorrow is a higher priority than she is? You wouldn't. It is easy for me to tell someone I'm too busy, but by simply rephrasing the way I respond to requests for my time I began to reprioritize to whom and to what I give away my most priceless gift.

If this sounds crazy, just try it for one day. I promise if you do, you will start to rethink your own priorities.

It starts to make it a lot easier to put things in perspective and realize you control how you give your time and how you want that to impact your life. This does not mean you have less to do or any less demands for your time. It just makes deciding how you spend it easier, allowing you to focus on what is most important — and let go of the guilt you feel if you don't get everything done on your dreaded to do list!

Don't forget... sometimes answering with "my sleep, my body, and my sanity are a bigger priority right now" is totally okay!

From one hard working meeting professional to all of you out there…

Celebrate all your accomplishments and success of 2018!
Let’s give ourselves a break. We already have one of the most stressful careers.
Resolve to give your time with intention.
And most importantly, thank you.