The Concept of TLC

BLOG TITLE: The Concept of TLC

THEME: Relationships - See additional reading of ‘Conscious Disconnection’

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The 21st century has seen a massive rise in the concept of ‘throwaway culture’. Things, everyday items such as household ones have become less expensive than in the past. So much so, that when they stop working, we tend to just ‘buy a new one’, throwing the other away, ergo the ‘throwaway culture’.

The thing is, the old one of whatever the item is might actually be okay, and with a bit of TLC, could be almost as good as new. Okay, it’s still older but older doesn’t mean less or worse or not good enough. If you think about everyday white appliances for instance, there are not many which you can buy nowadays that will last for 10 years or more. Very often new editions of everyday items are being made with parts that wear out very quickly, driving consumerism, because it makes the item cheaper to replace than repair and pushes the ‘throwaway culture’. We can’t keep doing that. Landfill is not a finite option.

Here's the thing though. Apart from the sustainability element, relating to landfill and white goods graveyards all over the world, which is a whole other day’s conversation, - just because one element stops working, doesn’t mean we need to dismiss the whole thing. When one-part stops functioning properly or stops giving the results it used to, maybe it’s not about throwing it away but utilising and investing in a little TLC.

As humans we have started to miss a crucial learning here or maybe we’re just dismissing the opportunity for learning in favour of the easier route. However, what is easy today, usually ends up creating more difficulty in the future.

What is TLC anyway?

If you look it up in the dictionary, the first definition you’ll get will be where TLC has been used as an idiom, for ‘tender, loving care’. ?Did you know that TLC is used in a wide range of industries, as an idiom for all sorts of other things but ultimately, they all boil down to one thing. Keep reading and you’ll see for yourself.

In the technology industry, TLC means ‘technology life cycle’[1] factoring research and development right through to the sales from the shelf, all of which is known as the products ‘vital life’.

In the science industry, TLC means ‘thin layer chromatography’[2] which is a scientific process used for analysis. By utilising three tasks of spotting, development and visualisation, the technique, which is a sensitive one, helps to determine the composition of a mixture. The TLC in this instance is used to identify the number of components, what they are and how pure each is, within the mixture. Looking closely at the mixture and influencing it with other components can help to determine how it reacts and the progress of those reactions. I love this particular definition – maybe that’s the secret scientist in me.

In the logistics industry, TLC means ‘total logistics concept’[3] and relates to the treatment of all aspects of the logistical train, from the activities involved to the partners associated with delivery, as one whole, complete package.

In business, TLC on the part of a CEO has been referred to as ‘time, leadership and change’[4]. Again, another nice idiom with depth of meaning. Success in business requires strategic thinking (among other things) and to think strategically requires time. To foster a culture where strategic thinking is part of the workings of a business, requires leadership and for any CEO their leadership and investment of time will drive the change required for success.

In marketing, TLC means ‘traffic, leads and customers’[5] referring to the source of flowthrough from our marketing endeavours, the best source of leads from that flowthrough and the greatest source of conversion from those leads.

In the sales industry, TLC means ‘talk, listen, and close’[6], i.e., whatever the item or thing is, it needs a bit of work to demonstrate or reveal its true value.

Any dictionary will give you the definition that TLC is an abbreviation for ‘tender, loving care’[7], meaning kindness, love and attention or being aware of the need to be gentle and giving towards the person, topic or item.

When you dissect each of the above meanings, there is one thing which stands out in each definition, and it requires the user ‘to look closely’ – TLC. Go back up to each definition now and read each with the concept of looking closely in mind. Interesting, isn’t it?!

For the purpose of this piece of writing I’m going to go with the ‘to look closely’ idiom and here is why.

To Look Closely

When we take for granted the everyday, when we use, reuse, and use again without taking time ‘to look closely’, we can very often miss the little things which, if we gave some tender loving care to, would mean nothing would need to be thrown away, yet. I’m going to use a relatable anecdote to explain this concept further.

An Anecdote

The washing machine stops working. Well, it doesn’t just ‘stop’. It’s making a rattle when in use, the detergent doesn’t seem to be leaving the drawer fully and the clothes don’t seem to be fresh when they come out. All in all, the appliance is not at its best, it is no longer fit for purpose, and this is a household problem. We rely on that washing machine a lot, it gets a lot of use. It’s a given that it will perform at optimum levels on a sometimes-daily basis or even twice daily, without throwing up difficulties.

So, what happens when it stops performing at optimum levels? What happens when one thing, then another, and yet another, begins to go wrong, or fail or stop giving us what we need?

We call the repair person, to have them come in and take a look. That’s a €150 callout charge. It might need a service, €80 or a new drum, €200, maybe the filter and sump need replacing, €45 or the dispenser drawer is damaged, €25. It begins to add up. The repair person arrives, takes a look, does the whistling thing through their teeth and all of a sudden, you’re looking at €400 or more in repairs to get the machine working properly again. You weigh up that €400 against the cost of a new machine, you can get those for as little as €350. Now you have a decision to make.

The Dilemma

Let’s stop for a moment and apply the TLC concept, to look closely. When was the last time you cleaned out the filter or checked it to see if anything was caught in it? It’s making a rattle when in use, so have you been checking pockets before washing the clothes? Coins, clips, jewellry, pins etc., can all get into the working parts, quite easily. What about the infernal wire from the revolutionary brassiere, the underwire bra? They slip through the holes of those washing machine drums like Houdini from a water chest (excuse the unintended pun). Do you use a laundry bag when you’re washing those?

The detergent doesn’t seem to be leaving the drawer fully and it’s a bit mucky, so we take it out, give it a wash and pop it back in. Did you check the rest of the housing when you took out the drawer? (We’re going to pretend you know how to take out the drawer, bypassing the idea that drawer is removable, because you knew that, didn’t you?!) Did you know that the housing is comprised of a number of connected parts, all removeable with a little effort and washable, even including the water feeds in and out? When did you last take a look at that?

The clothes don’t seem to be fresh when they come out. That could be because of a few things. Interestingly enough, both of the above can have a huge impact on this problem. Without a properly functioning filter the water isn’t going to drain well and be clean during the rinses. Think about that, a water course that doesn’t drain well means everything in its path is sitting in dirty water longer than necessary and isn’t flushing clean. Yeugh!

Without a properly functioning detergent drawer, the water feeding the machine and carrying the detergent into the drum isn’t going to be flowing at optimum levels or force, and so can’t carry all the detergent and leaves some behind meaning the clothes are not getting as much as they need and it’s possible those hosepipes are not feeding lovely clean water if they’ve got some ‘gunky’ residue inside them. Double Yeugh!

So where am I going with this. Well, it’s fairly obvious isn’t it. Our washing machine is an everyday appliance that we expect the best from but how often do we take the time ‘to look closely’ and see how we can be involved in helping that machine perform at its best for us?

What do we do as an appliance ‘user’ to look closely and provide it with some tender, loving care so the machine’s lifespan can be extended, its performance remains at optimum, and its function continues as a household support, to use in our everyday lives?

Life

If you really thought this written piece has been about white appliance repair and maintenance, you could be forgiven because I have basically provided you with all you need to know to start taking better care of your white appliances and to look closer and closely at all the ‘things’ you use in everyday life, in order to keep them in tip top condition and save your wallet and the planet by not throwing things away unnecessarily.

But that’s not what this piece is about. I simply wanted to create a relatability for you which demonstrates how important it is to engage in preventative maintenance for everything we use or utilise as part of our daily lives.

That includes people and relationships.

The Moral of the Story

We can become so used to having people in our lives we take them for granted.

We can be so used to how well people do things or perform certain tasks or functions; we can accept their help easily and expect it when we need their certain set of skills.

We can take for granted people’s presence in our lives, their roles, their abilities, their input and their generosity of time, character, energy, and spirit.

None of that is finite.

None of that is guaranteed and none of it is ours to take and utilise without giving something back. Whether that’s an exchange of care, a reciprocal tenderness or consciousness or whether that’s proper payment for services provided, ALL of it is part of our need and accountability as human beings to be conscious of our impact on others, their roles and responsibilities, our relationships, and the health of our existence, morally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I call it preventative maintenance for life. Have a think about the important people and relationships in your life. How often do you take time ‘to look closely’ and really see the person, see what their needs are, to see how you can help and support them?

How vital are they to the functioning of your life and what would happen if they weren’t there?

When we don’t take care of people and our relationships with them, they stop performing at their optimum – for us. They stop delivering their best – for us. They stop functioning in alignment with our needs – for us. That doesn’t mean they are any less or worse or not good enough. Just because something has stopped working in our relationship doesn’t mean we dismiss and throw away the whole thing.

We need to invest the time, to look closely and provide the tender loving care all relationships, including the one we have with ourselves, need to thrive, and evolve and continue. Some relationships are not meant to be long-term. As the saying goes relationships are meant for a reason, a season or lifetime. It’d be a shame to throw away some of them, simply because we thought they weren’t working – for us, without taking responsibility for the part we play in maintaining their function.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. Another little thought to poke your sensitivities and get you thinking. If you’re wondering where this particular anecdote came from, the washing machine stopped working. Well, it didn’t just ‘stop’. It was making a rattle for a while when in use. The detergent and more particularly the fabric softener wasn’t leaving the drawer fully or when it should and the clothes weren’t coming out as fresh when they should have, so I took it out one evening, and started to dismantle it.

I went into all the places where I thought I’d need, i.e., removed the drawer and washed it out, wiped around the inside of the housing, removed the filter, found a very damaged one cent coin (seriously, the colour was coming off it!) and drained the filter hose. Nothing I found was sufficient to fix the problem, that I knew because I did those things on a regular basis along with running the machine with a cleaner every three months or so and using my limescale tablets.

I stopped and took the time, ‘to look closer’ and realised that the problem had to lie deeper and the only way to figure that out was to get dirty and start dismantling. Cue some serious gunge from waste pipes – I also dismantled the piping in the utility room to wash and clean out those too. The sumps and the drainage hoses all needed a good cleaning as did the water feed hoses. The detergent drawer housing was for want of a better word, manky - that’s an Irish colloquial term which means seriously yuck!

It’d be fair to say that it’s likely this deep clean has never happened it this appliance’s lifespan. I own it 19 years – yes 19 years and it has worked tirelessly for all of that time without giving any trouble and guess what, I just used it without giving it a second thought – although I did do a bit of preventative maintenance which is probably why it has lasted so long. When I pulled it out, I spotted it had an A rating of its time. That’s pretty good going, because it was here when I moved in so add another four or five years onto that.

It is possible the problem may lie deeper and require closer inspection still but for now, we’ll see what happens. I’ve put most of it back together and will be finishing it this morning. If you want to know how it went, you’ll have to subscribe to the newsletter at [email protected]

Come on, you didn’t think I was going to give you this gem on personal accountability for nothing did you? *wink*

**end**

WORD COUNT: 2,496

DATE: 5th August 2023

#relationships #tlc #preventativemaintenance #washingmachines #digdeep #tolookclosely #sineadckavanagh #speaker #facilitator #listener #coax #directorofwellness

[1] https://uen.pressbooks.pub/tech1010/chapter/technology-life-cycle/#:~:text=There%20are%20typically%20four%20stages,introduction%20of%20a%20new%20technology.

[2] https://chem.libretexts.org/Ancillary_Materials/Demos_Techniques_and_Experiments/General_Lab_Techniques/Thin_Layer_Chromatography

[3] https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/international-logistics-introduction-et/0/steps/204271#:~:text=The%20Total%20Logistics%20Concept%20(TLC,partners%2C%20as%20one%20integrated%20system.

[4] https://albu-strategymanagement.com/2021/04/strategic-thinking-requires-tlc/

[5] https://www.resident360.com/the-tlc-strategy-for-improving-your-apartment-marketing#:~:text=TLC%20stands%20for%20Traffic%2C%20Leads,improve%20my%20marketing%20each%20month.

[6] https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/the-perfect-talk-listen-ratio-in-sales-that-will-help-close-deals-faster/

[7] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tlc