I have a family of five and all of us (mostly my son and I) eat a lot of meals and snacks. The kitchen, as they say, is always open. And in quarantine, that goes double in our house!
As a result, the dishwasher is on. And on and on. Doing the dishes is actually an activity I like. I mean, I’m not choosing the dishes over some other activity, but maybe there’s something therapeutic about it.
However, there are minor annoyances with doing the dishes. Stuck food, an outdated sponge, or the top rack constantly sliding out of its place. And even worse, there are these low-profile bowls that don’t fit in the dishwasher quite right. These are pasta bowls, I guess. And while they are great for eating, they suck for dishwashing. They take up too much space, so fewer things fit in the machine. As okay as I am doing the dishes, I’m not looking to run the dishwasher two times a night. Basically, these bowls are annoying.
But maybe after doing the dishes hundreds of times, I’m ready to try something new? Maybe there is a way to get these dishes in the dishwasher, so they don’t take as much space and they don’t fall on other dishes—and so they simply don’t annoy me.
Here I am bitching about dishes!
What if I put these low-profile bowls in perpendicular to the way I was doing it before? Could that work? It could. Wait, I just figured it out! Something I have done over and over again…there was a better way to do it. And all it took was some tweaking, some testing, and some refining.
Makes me think of financial services businesses. Doing something in certain ways for many years and then tweaking it. For example, a financial services CEO telling stories about how they started in the business and sharing it in a blog post—and using that post to encourage advisors and to recruit new advisors.
Makes me think of a physical trainer. Doing something in certain ways for many years and then tweaking it. For example, a physical trainer sharing simple videos of how to stay active during the day and sharing those videos on LinkedIn—and using those videos to help people who feel inactive at work to get active. And maybe, someone will contact her as they will be interested in learning more.
Makes me think of a therapist. Doing something in certain ways for many years and then tweaking it. For example, a therapist sharing a discussion with their business partners and turning it into a podcast—and using that podcast to help people’s mindset, to support their clients’ when they aren’t in session, or to allow potential clients to hear how they sound as therapists.
It’s working for the CEO, the trainer, and the therapist. And it’s working for the dishes, the dishwasher, and me. Tweaking, that is.