How I Plan My Life & Business Around My Cycle (To Reduce Stress & Negative Self-Talk)

Do you at times feel like you need to work hard in order to deserve a break? Do you fear to run out of time? Do you fear you are not doing enough? Do you want to feel more connected to yourself? Are you looking for balance? Do you feel like you don’t have enough time or that you may be wasting your time? Are you stressed about all the things you want to do and achieve in your life? Does relaxing become just yet another item on your to-do list that you need to get through? And does all of that exhaust you and maybe sometimes bring you to the brink of overt stress (and psssst… even burnout?).

Then I have a goodie for you: cyclical living.

When I first came across cyclical living inspired by the female cycle (other cycles work too, so don’t run off), everything changed for me. I used to look at time as a linear phenomenon. And whatever time lied in my past would be gone and whatever lay ahead of me I had to make the best use of. I had to be the same effing productive every day in order to achieve my goals and when my energy levels dropped around menstruation, I would be disappointed in myself. My inner critic would rear her confused ugly head (bless her) and roar, “you should be better than this! Look around! Everyone is working hard. You need to work hard also. Your period is no excuse.”

Boy was I wrong.

Wait, no.

Girl(!), was I wrong!

Why I plan my business and life around my cycle

When I learned about how to make use of my cycle phases and energy in a more efficient and respectful way, there was no doubt that I would use this for my business, too. And I don’t try to run my work & life 100 % around my cycle, but at least at 65 %, I would say. I stopped the negative self-talk when my energy dropped before menstrual phase and I stopped pushing myself to be as productive as just one week earlier, and I felt more energetic as a result. A few other immediate benefits I experienced were that my stress levels were reduced, I spent more time in flow, I had more energy, I felt 100 % more connected to myself on a mind-body-soul level, I learned to love and respect all parts and phases of me, I started to feel that I had more time (not less!). And I started being kinder to myself.

Let’s just say, I was convinced right away.

“The secret to having more time isn’t managing your time. It’s managing your energy.”

— Kate Northrup

The 4 different phases

The days of the phases vary from woman to woman. So, below are only estimates. When you get into observing yourself, you can get as precise as possible or simply trust your energy. But please note that this approach is not for planning pregnancies or counter-planning them. It is for managing your energy.

Menstrual (day 1 ~ 7)

This phase is when you bleed. In my head, I usually think of this phase as the last phase (like winter) but the female cycle starts with menstruation. This is the phase with the lowest energy levels and the most inward focus.

This is when I rest, read, study. This is when I try to have very few call dates with friends. It is when I try to avoid people because of my mood. It is when I try to drive less because (1) my focus is shifted inward and (2) I find it harder to focus on external events. This is when I go for walks instead of runs. This is when I tend to have word-finding problems. It’s when meditation becomes hard because I lack the focus to notice my thoughts. And sometimes it is when meditation is way easier because there are no thoughts left.

Kate Northrup swears by making decisions in the menstrual phase because a woman is more intuitive during this time. If you tend to overthink a decision, you can wait for your menstruation and see if the decision becomes much clearer and easier here.

Follicular (day ~ 8 ~ 14)

This is when estrogen rises as an egg prepares to be released. This phase technically starts with the first day of the period, but for the sake of cyclical living, the energy of this phase is used after menstruation. It is when your focus shifts outward again. It is when brainstorming comes easy. You wake up out of a deep inward phase, thoughts start running again. Seeing the bigger picture, planning, outlining bigger projects, brainstorming a course program, hanging out with people again more regularly, picking up higher intensive workouts again. I find it difficult to focus on smaller details in this phase and that is because details are best dealt with in a later phase. Brainstorming allows you to see the bigger picture, which works beautifully in the follicular phase.

Ovulation (day ~ 15 ~ 18)

This is the phase with the highest energy levels and the most outward focus. Ovulation is when the ovary releases a mature egg and when a woman can conceive a baby. It is when she is often the most attractive to men. It is when conversations flow, it is when having meetings is easier. For this phase, I try to schedule more calls, I have more energy to go out, go to events, be out there, make contacts. Make sales. Connect, collaborate. Give that workshop. It is when you can most naturally record videos. Language comes easily. I meet with more friends and socialise more.

Luteal (day ~ 19 ~ 28)

This phase is usually the longest. This is when your energy starts to shift inward again. It’s when you have the focus for detailed work, blog writing, recipe developing, putting in the work. Also, “it has been shown experimentally that the right hemisphere of the brain—the part associated with intuitive knowing—becomes more active premenstrually, while the left hemisphere becomes less active.” (Christiane Northrup) So, it becomes easier in this phase to be connected to your body and your intuition.

This is when I batch my blog posts. They just flow from my head through my fingers onto the page. I take one day to brainstorm posts and outline 4 posts, one to two days to write those posts, and one day to do the graphics, put the posts online and schedule them. Boom. I barely have the right headspace to do any of that in any of the other phases and when I try, it is harder to do.

You can do any more detail-oriented work and batch working in this phase. For example, recipe development, batch editing photos, writing, and so on.

In the luteal phase, you may become “grumpy” - but don’t judge yourself for that. It is a superpower. Critical thinking becomes natural, calling out BS becomes first nature. Seeing what works and what doesn’t becomes more obvious. That is why the end of the luteal phase is also good for looking back onto the cycle that has just passed and check what worked and what didn’t work.

So, evaluation is big in this phase. Projects come to an end.

How to get started

The first step is to observe yourself for a while.

If you go with your female cycle, start keeping a cycle journal. Every day, write down what day of the cycle you are in, how you are feeling, what you did, ate, on a scale from 1-10 what your energy levels were, what were the emotions you went through that day, etc.

I would recommend doing this for a while by hand in a notebook (more so than by using an app).

But you can also start using an app at the same time, just to start measuring the length of your cycle. An app (I use the app CLUE) will also make an estimation for when your next period will come around which is very handy.

I used to always be surprised slash disappointed when my period started once again but now, I know beforehand. SO, now I don’t have to dread it anymore, instead I welcome it and I know how to plan for it, eg. by reserving easy and low-key tasks for the menstrual phase.

Heck, I even look forward to it!

So, start by observing yourself and you will see patterns.

For example, I noticed that usually one or two days before I get my period, I have a self-doubt day. Now, that I know this, I can lean back when it comes and I see it as part of the process.

If you don’t have a (female/regular) cycle

Don’t fret. This is still for you. I would still definitely recommend trying out cyclical living!

You can find inspiration in the moon cycle. The energy of the different moon phases relate to the female cycle like this:

New moon = menstrual phase

Waxing moon = follicular phase

Full moon = ovulation phase

Waning moon = luteal phase

Or you can find inspiration in nature. The four seasons spring, summer, autumn and winter relate to the female cycle like this:

Winter = menstrual phase

Spring = follicular phase

Summer = ovulation phase

Autumn = luteal phase

Or you can simply use a calendar month, my friend. I find the 28-31 day length of the month is best to work with (it is also the same length as the average female cycle and the moon cycle!). You can do it roughly like this:

Month days 1-7 = menstrual phase

Month days 8-13 = follicular phase

Month days 14 - 17 = ovulation phase

Month days 18 - 28/30/31 = luteal phase

How I plan my business around my cycle

At first I tried to build myself a new calendar but I have not finalised that yet. I found it hard to mark my different phases in my physical calendar and also found it a bit tricky to note it all down in my asana project management app. But I have found it very easy to put it in my Google Calendar.

You can make the phases repeated events so that they automatically reappear in your calendar. This works particularly well when your cycle is regular, or you are using the moon or the monthly rhythms. You can also use inspiration from nature - but I would recommend a monthly rhythm for that.

Your period sets up the rhythm for the rest of the cycle. So, when your period comes earlier or later than expected, you can easily adjust your calendar. You can drag the first date of the event “Menstrual phase” to the day when your period did start. Then you are asked if you want to change “This event” or “This and following events”. Choose “This and following events”. And then repeat this with the other phases so they are not overlapping but adjacent.

Another great benefit of using Google Calendar for your cyclical living is that you can layer your various calendars, you can hide your cycle calendar, you can compare your cycle calendar to the moon phases, … it is very flexible. For example:

You may need to use both your Google Calendar and whatever other calendar you use to organise your work. But I got used to it and find it not problematic at all.

A to-do list for each phase

You can also create a list for each phase: a luteal list, an ovulation list, a follicular list and a menstrual list. In this way, when a thought comes up, like an idea or a task you need to do, you can ask yourself which of the 4 phases will be best for this task. Then, you can add this task to the right list and come back to it when you are in the respective phase.

Why would you do that? It is all about preserving energy and making efficient and friendly use of the energy you have in those different phases.

You don’t have to do everything right now.

So, for example, when you are in the ovulation phase and you are struggling to make a decision on something because you are perhaps very head-based, you can put this decision on your menstrual list. Or when you are in your menstrual phase and quite low energy but you think of a blog post you want to write, put it down on your luteal list.

That way, you always reserve the tasks for the best energy levels which means you are making sustainable use of your energy.

The takeaway

The beautiful thing about organising your time, life and work in this way is that you can trust that your energy and productive phases will come back naturally. You don’t run out of time because there is a new beginning every cycle and in every day (or in every breath). And you don’t burn out or exhaust yourself so much that you NEED a break because the rest and slow work is part of the process.

When you plant a parsley seed in your soil, you don’t see what happens in there for a while. Just because it is not visible doesn’t mean that it is being “unproductive”. Every phase has its purpose and every phase is crucial for a sustainable workstyle and lifestyle.

Please honour your low energy phases. When you push through them, you will get out more tired on the other end instead of rested and refreshed. And your low energy phases are the most beautiful ones. It is when you can connect to yourself.

It’s about adding & shifting; never about restricting or limiting.

References & inspiration include

Do Less by Kate Northrup

Work by Christiane Northrup