The Unbusy Mom - take your time back strategies for business moms

The ultimate guide to cycle syncing (so you never burn out on period week again).

Alyssa Wolff - Work/Life Balance Coach for Business Moms

You’ve heard about cycle syncing by now. 

But you’re thinking, is it really going to be the be-all end-all if I just track a few dates and add an extra calendar app thing? 

How much does this actually affect my energy levels and work output day to day?

If you’re feeling that “out of sync with my workflow” thing regularly – and I mean the “I really thought I’d put in enough time for me to wrap up with that client before grabbing Owen from nap and heading to the park to let him run around while I work on my phone a little bit, then get home in time to prep supper, but this new park schedule just isn’t working out....”

Then you’re in serious need of the “hormonal right sizing” that cycle syncing can give you.

You’ve got this!

Alyssa

Love your daily life as a work-at-home mom: https://yourunbusylife.com/

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This is the Unbusy Mom, and today we’re talking about the ultimate guide to cycle syncing (so you never burn out on period week again).

You’ve probably heard about cycle syncing by now. Some women won’t shut up about it. 

But you, you’re kind of thinking, is it REALLY going to be the be-all end-all if I just track a few dates and add an extra calendar app thing? How much does this ACTUALLY affect my energy levels and work output day to day?

So listen. If you’re feeling that “out of sync with my workflow” thing regularly – and I mean the “I really THOUGHT I’d put in enough time for me to wrap up with that client before grabbing Braden from nap and heading to the park to let him run around while I work on my phone a little bit, then get home in time to prep supper, but this new park afternoons schedule just isn’t working out....”

Or even the “I could have sworn I’d picked all these to-do’s last week, and the list was half as long – where did all these new tasks pop up from? I don’t have enough time to get THOSE all done!”

Then you’re in serious need of the “hormonal right sizing” that cycle syncing can give you.

Because look, here’s the deal. It’s not about getting so finicky with a NEW set of regulations and  tracking you must follow.

It’s ACTUALLY completely about knowing – ahead of time, mind you! - when you need to be giving yourself grace, and when you’re going to be ready to push really hard – oh, and when it’s “business as usual,” i.e., neither of those things.

It’s THAT level of syncing with your natural “work or break” desires that matching yourself up with your “what time of the month hormones am I in” is going to magically produce for you.

And if that sounds intriguing, or amazing, or unicorn-level “too good to be true” ing – but you still really want it to be – then hear me out.

All you need to do is remember 4 basic states. No more, no less. And then track your average monthly cycles to determine this. 

You’ll get the hang of it a few periods later – this isn’t some big, huge, complicated thing. (You can MAKE it so, of course, but to really start reaping the benefits of it, you just need to master a few phases and their main characteristics.)

  • Number one, period phase. When you’re actually bleeding. This is your low energy time, as you might expect. (You typically like planning, reflection, and evaluation tasks in this phase.)
  • Number two, back to normal phase. Where you’ve quit bleeding, you’re back to your normal energy levels, and life is good (just not super energized yet).
  • Number three, ovulation phase. This is your super short, 1 to 3 day period where you’ve got move-star-like magnetism, want ALL the people-ing, and have the ability to burn your candle at both ends without even noticing. Like I said, it’s great – but it’s only for a couple days.
  • Number four, back to “back to normal” phase. You’re going to spend most of your cycle here.
  • And number five, pre-period phase. You’re going to be slightly lower energy, prepping for the rest cycle that’s just ahead, and naturally wrapping things up/checking off all your monthly lists since this hormonal month first started.

And that’s it! Just 4 phases, that you’re cycling in and out of, that you can match your business’s projects and repeating task lists to.

  • Is this an on-camera heavy, people-meeting thing? Then it probably belongs in ovulation.
  • Is this a quarterly planning session, a “what don’t I like about my life” upgrade session, or a CEO journaling session? Don’t waste your productive times of the month on these; save ‘em for when you’re on your period and looking for something – anything – to do that lets you off the hook that’s still business related. (You’re welcome.)
  • What about emails, sketching out podcast episodes, client delivery, working up sales pages, that sort of thing? All normal tasks that belong in your “normal” zone (of the hormone cycle phase).

And if you’re wondering what the difference is between “wrap-up week” tasks and “normal project mode” tasks, I’d just put it this way: normal mode is diving INTO those projects head on.  Wrap up week mode is actually FINISHING the last bits on each of those projects (so they don’t bleed over into another month, or you’re not pressuring yourself to write copy on your actual period). 

Make sense?

And if you’re wondering where course work or meeting with YOUR coach fits, here’s a personal story for you. I’d almost tapped out on the 2nd half of my biz workday due to it being period day 1 for me and just not feeling like hitting the laptop again. I was debating calling it done for the day and just doing personal things for fun – which isn’t at all normally how I operate. But I *did* want to honor my work hours, so I looked for anything else I could do that fit my *non* project mode energy…. And I found 2 mini-courses I hadn’t watched but really wanted to! Which happened to be exactly the right length of time to take up.

So if you’ve got any mindset blocks you’ve been meaning to work through, or CEO offer creation dream-up time you’ve been wanting to get to, go give yourself the FREEDOM to indulge in a bit of journaling, visioning, just PLAYING in your business instead of grumping that it’s period week. 

It’s period week, and you GET to kick back and do the fun stuff. The light stuff. The NECESSARY to your business’s future stuff. 

Okay?

Now go match up your business’s this-week to-do list with where you ACTUALLY are in your monthly hormones right now, and see what gets to drop off till NEXT phase because you’re actually not in the right zone for it. 

This is what leaning on CYCLE scheduling to make sure you’re handling everything your business needs looks like.

Have fun.