Micro managing - that way madness lies

1

Yes, this is a bit corny and I don’t believe in God but…

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

This could have been written specifically for ABNB hosting! :smile:

A lesson I’ve learnt (that I still need to remind myself of from time to time) is that YOU can create the stress yourself when you try to micromanage your guests behaviour. Here’s an example: we used to get stressed over check in time. I know this will be familiar to many “oh, we decided to do some sight seeing on the way” or “we went for dinner before checking in” or “traffic was really heavy but it never occurred to us to let you know that we’d be 2 hours late”. We tried all kinds of wording in the listing and also in the pre-check in final message. The solution? A combination key safe. Based on our experience over the last 3 years we felt pretty confident that guests would be able to let themselves in successfully. We put some extra effort in to our guide book. And the chance are they wouldn’t be hear long before we’d get home anyway. (It’s a private room in our house). The funny thing is that, since we installed the my safe, we’ve hardly used it! But somehow, knowing we have the option means that we’re completely relaxed about the whole thing.

1 Like
2

This is actually the AA serenity prayer… no doubt it’s been inspiring to many millions over the year who lost control of their lives due to drug or alcohol abuse. Not corny at all.

I was kind of the opposite and stressed about self check in. I found that I had more problems with water wasting and long showers if I didn’t show them in and could gently remind them of the house rules.
I felt better and had more control if I asked them to text an approximate arrival time if it was much past 4.00 instead of just being flexible about check in time. In person greeting also allows me to get their tax ASAP and waivers signed… get the business out of the way.

To each his or her own! Different strokes for different folks. True cliches, yes?

1 Like
3

Actually it’s a prayer written by a famous theologian. AA must have just appropriated it for their use.

1 Like
4

Do share the origins! Yes, I am sure AA appropriated it. Just to be clear, I’m not in AA, but I dated someone who was and it surely saved his life.

Everyone could benefit by working the 12 steps.

5

BTW, he gave me a blue book and I put it in the room just in case guests want to peruse it!

6

Reinhold Niebuhr. Sorry, I should have credited.

2 Likes
7

American theologian, German name. :slight_smile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer

1 Like