By: Sarah Dew Whitsett
This is a funny little phrase that we use around here quite a bit with our clients and also ourselves. It sounds a little off putting but the meaning behind it and the results after having completed a “tube cleaning” are so satisfying. This practice, if done well and often, has the ability to open you up for your next great experience.
Cleaning out the tube is taking a look at everything in your business or life that is not working, and cleaning it out.
Seems simple enough, but most of the time the things that need to be cleaned out are the hardest things to do. It could be firing a client that doesn’t value the work that you do. It’s easy to keep up the good fight to keep the client but deep down you know the best choice is to make the hard decision and let them go.
It could be making sure that all of your current clients sign an updated contract that holds them to your values. But you feel awkward about it and don’t want to rock the boat.
It could be in your life. Do you need to renegotiate a relationship that isn’t feeling good anymore?
Look at everything going on both inside and outside of you and your business and make those hard decisions.
This is a good time to do the exploration needed to determine what needs to be cleaned out of your tube. Everything has slowed down and we have the space to reflect.
Use it wisely and when we start moving into the new normal you may find you have left behind a whole lot of crud.
May all of our tubes flow freely and joyfully as we move into the rest of 2020.
Sarah is cofounder and strategist at Las Peregrinas, a creative and consulting agency. She’s all action and no beating around the bush. A former intensive care unit nurse, if you look closely, you’ll see her continuing to run triage in her work with clients now. It’s in her bones. Sarah’s ears are tuned to the efficient and effective use of time, money, and effort, and which actions need to be taken in which order to get the result you want.
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