The Power of Letting Go: A Simple Tool for Evaluating Your Business and Releasing What Doesn't Serve You

I had a powerful realization as I went about my life feeling really well. I asked myself why I felt so good and realized that no work things were weighing me down. I used to punish myself by fixating on things that needed fixing. I love solving problems, so up until now, I've looked for problems to solve. I was collecting problems for my brain to solve.

I am shifting that. Now I am looking for fun. Pleasure. What makes me happy? Because I realized that waiting to be happy someday is a trap. Someday never comes.

After reconfiguring my business to focus on Forecasting, which required releasing some clients, I realized that I don’t resent ANY of my work. Everything I am doing in my business feels 100% aligned, and I feel so grateful and appreciative for all of it.

This doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows. There are still things I do that are not in my joy, like setting up payroll for a client, but I am so grateful for that client that I feel happy to do it.

All resistance is gone. There is no drag on my boat.

And it took some time to get here.

I built up a client base and monthly revenue that was more than needed, so I could let some work go.

I have money in reserve.

I had good coaching to support me in making changes.

I meditated for so many hours that a sense of calm has permeated the core of my being. Although anxiety still comes, it doesn’t go deep.

And it didn’t happen overnight. I started gently releasing things over the past two years to build my “saying no” muscles. I am super sensitive to emotion and had to overcome people pleasing along the way.

I’m sharing this because I want you to know that if you are doing things in your business that don’t feel good, releasing even one small thing will feel so good and liberate energy that you can now call back to yourself.

Release one small thing and feel that feeling. Sit with it and see what happens, I got hooked on it, and the exhilaration I felt fueled me to release the next smallest thing.

Some people can make big changes all at once, which feels good to them. My nervous system needs more support, so I give myself permission to go slower.

I want to offer a tool for evaluating what work to release if you are ready to take the step to let something go:

1. Make a chart in Excel (or on paper) with the types of work you do or the clients you work with down the left side of the sheet.

2. Pick five criteria you want to evaluate your work and list them across the top of the sheet. You can use any criteria that feel good to you and aligns with your values. Here are some examples:

• Are they enjoyable to work with?

• What is the revenue from the work?

• How profitable is the work?

• How complex is the work?

• How much time does it take?

• How much of your resources does the work require?

• How much of your team's resources does the work require?

• Do they pay on time?

• Do they send quality referrals?

• How does the work impact your short-term goals?

• How does the work impact your long-term goals?

• How does the work impact your vision for the company?

1. Rank them from 1-10 for each criterion, ten being the best and one being the worst.

For example, if I love working with them and want more clients like them, I rate them a ten for - Are they enjoyable to work with?

1. Add up all the scores and then sort the sheet by the total. Or just look at them if sorting in Excel is not something you do.

If you sort by the total column in descending order, with ten being the highest, you will have a list of work or clients with the most favorable at the top and the least favorable at the bottom.

Data can help us step away from emotion and see if the work we are doing is taking us where we want to go.

Releasing work that ranks low for us will free up time and energy and will cost us the least in terms of revenue and profitability.

I love tools like this that help us organize our thoughts and emotions because we are feeling them but maybe in a more reactive way, like the resentment we feel when we do work for a client who has been unkind or when we are doing work we know is not in our zone of genius but for some reason, we're unable to delegate it.

By releasing all the work that provoked negative feelings, they don’t follow me around like problems to be solved anymore. I feel liberated by this clean, clear space I have created in my business, and I want that for you too. If you try this, let me know how it goes.