I wanted to share a conversation I recently had with myself…
I am watching the NFL wild card weekend under the relaxing glow of the lights from my Christmas tree. I suddenly realize it’s Sunday, January 15th and immediately start a self-interrogation that goes something like; “Why in the heck is the tree still up? Am I some sort of loser that I still have me tree up mid way through January? What am I doing?!”
Then I answer myself with: “Well, it IS strangely soothing with all of the lights and decorations. It looks cool in the family room. I was wiped out this weekend and didn’t feel like fighting with a giant tree.” You get the idea.
So it got me to thinking, what else am I holding onto that has passed its prime, that is probably ready to be taken down, tossed, improved, or shelved, but is still around just because it is easier to leave it there?
Maybe I feel good about that customer group that is really friendly and nice, but they are costing us margin because we didn’t raise their price.
Or maybe it’s an antiquated process that works “well enough”, but I know 5 hours of improvement might save 25 hours of productivity.
Perhaps it’s a product or offering that has been there since the start but no longer serves the customer or the company.
As I look at the tree I know it has served us well this holiday season. It looks great, still actually smells like the holidays, the lights are still working, the ornaments are all still in place but it’s time to go. It’s time to move on to the next phase. It is time to think about Spring coming, renewal, and new opportunities.
So I say thank you to my beautiful Christmas tree, I am going to use it as inspiration to look for the “Christmas Trees” in our business. Things that were effective, and beautiful, and of great value in their time, but need to be undecorated and moved out to make way for bigger and better ideas and things!
In the perfect end to the metaphor of the Christmas tree, we actually recycle our tree and use it as kindling for our fire pit. So the final act for the tree will be to assist us in creating a great outdoor gathering place around the fire pit!
Cheers,
John
Founder of the align5 Companies, CEO of Scaling Up Coaches, and Serial Entrepreneur
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