My neighbor has a couple of rose bushes in the front of their house. They planted them a few years back and I’ve watched them grow bigger and bigger each year.

The second year I noticed them trim the branches and prune the rose bushes down to almost nothing and I was confused. “Why would they cut off all those branches? Don’t they want the rose bushes to keep growing?”

As you can tell I’m not a gardener…

Then a friend explained to me that pruning is what encourages growth! It removes the old, dead wood and rejuvenates the plant so that it can bloom and grow even more. When we remove the old stuff, the plant no longer has to work hard to try to keep it alive and it can instead focus on new growth.

Sure enough – that spring the roses were blooming in full force. My pups and I would stop to ‘smell the roses’ on our walks each morning.

I couldn’t help but wonder – how does this apply to our businesses?

A common approach when up-leveling is to look at what we need to ADD. More offers. More products. More team.

Which all equals more work. More to manage. More responsibility. More more more.

Phew! No wonder growth feels tiring.

What if – instead of looking at what we need to ADD we first look at what we need to PRUNE? What do we need to trim away to free up our business for more growth?

This is the second stage of my True Work process and it is one that my clients at first may resist… but that they come to appreciate.

When we are working together on their true work and we land on what they want to create, their inclination is to jump right in and start working on it!

But I will make them pause first and consider… what needs to be pruned away so that we have space and energy to bring your true work to life?

For some folks this means pruning clients. Old offers. Outdated messaging.

It will also often mean pruning old expectations and ideas about themselves – letting go of who they were and how they used to think.

As we prune away the dead wood it naturally allows our energy to be freed up for what is next. Vs. trying to ‘fit it into’ everything that is already going on.

I invite you to consider today – what in your business is ready to be pruned? And how would it feel to be able to lovingly let go of those things?