December is a time of gifts, holiday feasts and resolutions for the coming New Year. Instead of posting a listicle of sorts with a dozen viable self-improvement tips in the days leading up the ball drop, I want you to focus on just one. And in order for it to properly sink in, unencumbered by the noise of thousands of other resolution articles, I’m giving it to you now.

In order to be a smart hoteliers, you have to read the news and op-ed pieces. You have to stay abreast with the latest developments, keep up with what thought leaders are saying about the hot issues and familiarize yourself with trending industry jargon. Looking beyond industry publications, you have to expand your comfort zone and seek out some variety by extending your horizons to related fields like real estate, technology, cuisine, wellness and entertainment. This prevents tunnel vision and allows for the cross-pollination of ideas to occur.

However lackadaisical reading may be when compared to the doldrums of your quotidian tasks, it still takes up time – 15 minutes to half an hour – that could be allocated to productive work or to dedicated leisure activities once you’ve punched your ticket for the day. As such, the daily education is constantly getting pushed aside.

But routine is good, and the quicker the better. Moreover, it’s better to read one article for each of the seven days of the week versus seven articles in a single sitting because you are giving your brain added time to digest the material. Hence, the catchy title of this article, and my wish for you come 2016.

On a final note, there’s the question of where to fit this routine into your daily schedule. Some people may prefer a light read whilst quietly sipping their morning tea whereas others may use it as a tactic to hurdle past the mid-afternoon lethargy. This requires some trial and error as well as knowing what sort of learner you are.

In other words, commit to this one-article-per-day regimen for the month of January no matter what and no matter when that reading actually occurs. Keep a journal, too. In this logbook record what articles you read, when you opened them, what their messages were and how you felt about each one. Then at the end of the month, review your notes, looking for what you remembered and whether there is a correlation with the time of day. You may even notice a trend in the types of material you gravitate towards. Who knows; it may change your career path and help you discover hidden passions you never knew existed.

(Article by Larry Mogelonsky, published in HOTELS Magazine on Tuesday, December 1, 2015)