Episode 9 The Power of Cycle Syncing in Entrepreneurship

In this episode, Debbie Mulhall explores the concept of cycle syncing for female entrepreneurs, emphasizing how understanding the menstrual cycle can enhance productivity and well-being in business. She discusses the four phases of the menstrual cycle—inner winter, inner spring, inner summer, and inner autumn—and how each phase affects energy levels, creativity, and decision-making. Debbie encourages women to align their work tasks with their cycle phases to optimize performance and reduce stress, while also advocating for a supportive work environment that acknowledges these natural rhythms.

Here's the Link to view Debbie's Cycle Syncing Google Sheets https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ae22fHBxo74x1vjnnLYZTKO9eXC51YdvlKAt98Q2Kc4/edit?usp=sharing

Takeaways

Cycle syncing can enhance productivity for female entrepreneurs.
Understanding your menstrual cycle is empowering and beneficial.
Each phase of the cycle has unique energy and productivity levels.
Aligning business tasks with cycle phases can reduce stress.
Rest is crucial during the menstrual phase.
The follicular phase is ideal for creativity and new projects.
Ovulation is the peak time for visibility and collaboration.
The luteal phase is best for wrapping up tasks and reflection.
Communication about cycle phases can improve team dynamics.
Knowledge of cycle syncing can be life-changing for women in business.


Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Cycle Syncing for Business Success
02:46 Understanding the Menstrual Cycle and Business Dynamics
07:42 The Four Phases of the Menstrual Cycle
09:01 Inner Winter: The Menstrual Phase
17:04 Inner Spring: The Follicular Phase
21:15 Inner Summer: The Ovulation Phase
25:36 Inner Autumn: The Luteal Phase
38:46 Conclusion: Harnessing Your Cycle for Business Success
39:37 Debbie Mulhall Podcast Outro.mp3

Keywords

cycle syncing, menstrual cycle, female entrepreneurs, business strategy, hormonal wellness, productivity, feminine energy, work-life balance, women in business, personal development

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Beauty Pro to CEO podcast. I'm Debbie Mulhall and if you are a beauty or skin professional who wants to build a thriving, profitable business without the stress or burnout, you are in the right place. I started in this industry just like you, working hands-on and passionate about beauty, but quickly realizing that passion alone does not pay the bills. I built my business from the ground up I learned through trial and error and became obsessed with mastering leadership, systems and strategies to create a business that works for me, not the other way around. Now I help beauty pros just like you to do the same. This podcast is your go-to for practical business tips, no-fluff strategies and real talk behind the scenes. The highs, the lows and everything in between. So grab a coffee, get comfy and let's dive in. Hello, welcome back everyone. I do hope this episode finds you healthy and wealthy and happy and well. Okay. This is an episode about cycle syncing for business success and this is another podcast that will really help any female in business not just the beauty industry. Now if you don't know what cycle syncing is amazing or maybe you've heard a little bit about it before you might be a little bit curious but I am going to give you a really in-depth rundown on how you can really use this. I would say this is actually a superpower within your business. I've been asked by multiple multiple female business owners to work with them on this. Even when I was a participant in Masterminds, anytime I mentioned it, it was kind of actually really surprising how many female business owners, you know, it's really once you get this, I think, into your rhythm, it ends up being so beneficial for everywhere and everyone. So if you're not a man and you're listening to this, you're definitely going to want to understand it. But generally, I always say it's not a bad thing. It's no bad thing that men understand understand this as well. This is one of those things I don't understand why it's not taught in schools and men and women should be aware because like dads and sons and female or male co-workers would this would create so much more harmony and alignment on teams and families and businesses if everybody understood this. OK, so the topic is cycle syncing. And if you are a menstruating female, you're definitely going to want to listen up. Now, why am I talking about menstrual cycle syncing? and business. Well, I think this is something when we talk about energy and, you know, our own creativity and how we show up in the business, the world, the modern day world is built around the masculine. Work seven days a week or work five days a week, you know, work four months, four weeks of the month, work nine to five, the same cycle over and over and over. Okay. And that works very well for men because men are not on a 28 day cycle, some sort of point of reference. Now, Men and women are not the same. And as female entrepreneurs, we are living in a male and masculine dominated world. And one of the beautiful things about understanding this particular thing and understand your cycle syncing is one of the most empowering things you can take back for yourself. OK, it's honestly it is a superpower. And my own daughter is only 14. And I've been speaking to her about this for years. So before she started her own cycle, she understood about my cycle and OK, so perhaps she would, you know, catch me at the right time or the wrong time. Or I might just actually say to her, you know, here's where I'm at right now. Here's how I'm feeling. And she it was so good because she really started to understand. She really started to understand it before she even had her cycle. She even knows now, you know, at that time when she's at the inner part of her cycle, if she doesn't feel like being social, she's like, no, mom, I'm on day XXX. I don't feel like going out. So I don't want to get too much into it, but you are really going to learn how to reclaim your feminine power. I don't believe being fully in your masculine is going to be in your masculine energy is a recipe for success in business. It's not it's not what I see. And to be perfectly honest, if you're fully in your feminine, it doesn't always work either. We do need systems which are masculine. We need processes which are masculine. But we also need our feminine, which is our creativity. We need our heart. We need our intuition. OK, so when you master this, It's honestly, yeah, it's just such, it's just, it's just such a cool thing. One of my own goals for both of my companies, one of my goals for myself in my, when you're planning this year was to make all decisions around my business fully sustainable, meaning my strategy aligns with my cycle. And now I know that I can communicate better, delegate smarter and show up more authentically in my business. But when you preserve your energy and you are working in alignment with it, you will go far faster for far longer and far stronger. So it's it avoids this common trap of burning out. OK, so that's what I'm hoping that by sharing all this, that's how it can help you in your business. And who doesn't want to feel more aligned and more energized? Well, I know I do. All right. So once you manage this, it will actually really help your awareness of your team members. So in our industry in particular, it's going to be female dominated. And once you master your own cycle, it can really help you understand your team members better. And it's really helpful for even the culture in the business. So our clinic, we have always had a huge sort of female embodiment, female health and wellness embodiment in Herbal Clinic, meaning we very much understand and appreciate the feminine cycle, babies, pregnancies, childbirth. We've had female team members who had, you know, they had reproductive issues. Then if you think about it from our perspective in our business, we're obviously treating women and we are also very much involved with, you know, their hormonal wellness, their hormonal balance. And that's what this all boils down to. If you want to talk about the science of it, we're not talking about some spiritual woo-woo here. We're talking about how your hormones in your body affect you at different times of the month and how that can affect your workflow and how it should and can help you to strategize and schedule yourself a little bit better. done was I had shared in these masterminds about how I work my own schedule and plan my own schedule according to my cycle meaning there are certain tasks at certain times of the month that I block book into my diary and I don't try and attempt those at a section of the cycle where it's not suited and I had created this google document and had listed out all the tasks and the best time for me to plan them into my diary and when I would speak about this on my masterminds hey for wanted to know and everybody wanted me to share it. So the good news is I'm going to definitely talk about it. I'm going to give you a good rundown. And look, it's just a little Google Doc that I made in my own Google Drive. I will link it in the podcast show notes below so that you can open it up and have a look at it. If you want to, you know, click file and make a copy of it, you can delete out my tasks and you can actually pop your own tasks in to suit yourself and even your family tasks. So it's quite exciting. So let's jump in and go right back and I'm going to tell you about the four phases that we're talking about here. So the first phase that I'm going to be speaking about, we're going to call it inner winter. So it's roughly when you're in your menstrual phase and it's day one to seven. The second cycle, if you hear me talking about inner spring, so that's around day six, day seven to day 13-ish and that would be your follicular phase. Inner summer, day 13 to 20, this is your ovulation phase and then you're your inner autumn, which is week four, around day 20 to 28. is your luteal phase. Now some of you may be somewhat familiar with these phases so if you have ever used your cycle for contraception or if you are somebody who has been trying for a baby you might be really familiar with certain parts of where your hormones dip and fall. Now I'm actually not going to get too much into that like if you want to learn a little bit more about when your hormones are up and down you could do a little bit of reading on that but that is that is essentially the four sections we're talking about and just remember that each section is impacted by hormones and that is why at certain times you will feel more inclined to do more tasks or different tasks so let's start with the inner winter let me just open up my notes in my spreadsheet here okay your inner winter is your menstrual phase and how you may feel energy wise you could be quite low quite inward quite introspective okay your brain is more geared towards reflection and alignment so your right and left center brain are communicating communicating the strongest. And this section is really best for resting. OK, after your first few days, you may start to wake up a little and that can be a really good time for, you know, visioning, planning, re-evaluating and even aligning your why. So it can be just very reflective and introspective. OK, so it's really important to remember around this time. OK, women, slowing down is probably one of the most strategic things you can do in this phase. You are not lazy. You deserve a rest and you need rest. Okay. So it's really important at this phase that you are understanding that your insights, your female intuition, like your magic, your hits will very often come at this phase when you are in retreat. Okay. So that's another nice word to associate with it is retreating. Okay. So when I open up my spreadsheet, I have it color blocked as red. So what I do is I go onto my Google calendar and that particular week for each month, I just put it as a red tag. So it just gives me now at this point, I very rarely even need to, you know, pre-plan it because I've been doing it for so long. I nearly organically have my monthly flow. So I kind of have block booked things in. But it is helpful in the beginning to use the color codes on your diary so you can remember. And then each month, just click in from whatever day you start your cycle to roughly how long your cycle is and color code it. I've used red. So when you look at the spreadsheet, I have listed out the tasks that I would probably in my diary and items that would be really suitable for this time of cycle. So things like planning creative task blocks for spring and summer season. So that week of my cycle, I will actually often go into my diary and go, OK, I know I'm coming into spring and summer. Now is a good time for me to get my spring summer tasks into my diary. So I'll very often go through my diary and get my month set up. It's really good for strategizing, making plans, but not actually booking anything into your calendar and really good time for doing reviews. So if you do a monthly review of your business or finances, whatever it is, it can be a really good time to do that because it's obviously just, it doesn't require a huge amount of brainpower. You're just reviewing things. I will often put in admin tasks that are kind of, I want to say low brainpower. So that could be like paying bills, just general email-y things, maybe running to the bank, stocking up for the house, getting some grocery orders in. Perfect. I really like like a lot of women might disagree with me and this of course is all subjective but I have it in mind I like this to travel meaning I like to try if I'm planning vacations around my cycle which I absolutely do it's really funny if somebody asks me to go to a wedding or a holiday the first thing I do is go and check where I'll be on my cycle before I say yes I quite like taking the travel in this phase like day two day three because it means when I get to my destination if I'm going on vacation very quickly I'm going to come into my inner spring phase which which for me is my absolute favorite. Well, one of my favorite seasons in the month. So I'm quite happy to travel at this phase because I know once I get in day or two, I'm going to start feeling my magic, my energy, my sparkle, my zing come back. OK, so also, if you're not being productive and work and you're not going to be having like powerful meetings and not doing a lot of like creative tasks, it's a perfect time to travel because, you know, you just sit in the plane, listen to a podcast or whatever. So it's a really good time to travel as far as I'm concerned. Me, maintenance appointments. So like I will schedule schedule doctor's appointments, dental appointments. I don't want to waste my higher energy days on things where I have to go somewhere like a scan or my annual mole check, whatever it is, something that is just like no, I don't want to waste time. I'll do that in this phase. I'll plan it for then. So booking meetings with new clients for spring, summer. So if somebody was inquiring to work with me on my program, I wouldn't ideally get chatting to them on this phase, but I would book them in for my spring or summer phase because you'll see why. But yeah, I will go ahead and get them booked in for my more creative times. I'm really happy working with current clients. If I have a one-to-one client set up, I'm really happy to work with a regular client during this phase. Once you have a rhythm with a client and you've established where you're working, it's a really good, it it's easy to work with established clients. I do think that the first time I meet someone or the very first few sessions when we're setting up what we need to do together, I really don't want to do that on that phase. I want to be so sharp. I need my mind firing and I want to, because obviously in the beginning, we're planning what we're doing in the 90 days. So because my mind is most sharp in spring and summer, they're the two weeks I'll try and get somebody in for their first calls. But I'm super happy to work with my current clients that week. Anything like meeting with account virtual assistants, managers, content planning, that goes in there. And sometimes if I'm feeling a little bit energetic, I might plan some podcast topics or maybe do a little bit of planning around social media. So it's a great week for email creation, offer planning, or a little bit of copywriting for marketing. Really light, nothing too creative, wouldn't start any new projects, anything like that. I very often do my meal prep setup. I do like journaling. I do like yoga. And if I'm doing yoga, it's going to be like a yin yoga, nothing too active and definitely lovely for deep reflection. Perfect to review any ongoing projects and review any current email threads but not ideal for sinking your teeth into something new. All right I've put in there a little bit about energy output so like I'm pretty good for hiking on that part of my cycle and I'm happy enough going to the gym. I don't really change my intensity too much but I will notice that sometimes that week I may not have as much power in the gym or hike as fast or run as fast and that's fine. So the things I'm not putting into my diary in my winter phase, really light on social engagements, definitely no first dates, definitely no high energy people. Like if it's going to be like my brother's house for dinner, that's fine. My best friend for tea, that's fine. I'm not going, I'm not going to do nothing crazy. I'm not planning it anyway. Like, hey, oh, things change and plans change, but I'm not popping anything in there. I find that as well. I'm very, I keep myself very light on social media engagement. So you're not going to see me face forward on camera engaging with clients this time of the month either I also retain a little bit of water around that time of month so I generally look in the mirror and go oh my god or if you've had a little breakout you might find that your skin is still clearing so it can be a time where I give myself and you should give yourself a little break from those kinds of tasks so that gives you a little bit of an idea so on the spreadsheet you'll see that it is a yin phase so I talk about yin phases and yang phases that's talking about your energetics so yin is quite um Slow, steady, inward, introspective, review, planning and introvert. So that's the type of energy we are talking about. All right. So hopefully that would help you understand. And, you know, I haven't gone into the physicalities of cycles and how you would feel because, you know, everyone is different. I have to just say something as well. Oh, my gosh. So this was how I was so religious with this when I was in my late, mid to late 30s. I had desperate with PMS, working way too hard, way too stressed, and PMS really rocked my world. And if you suffer with PMS really badly, this is going to be even more powerful for you because everything is going to be amplified. You know, I do share with people that I am on HRT now and it has balanced things a little bit, so it's less important. But yeah, for anyone who is, does notice, you know, a lot of energy dips and changes or, you know, maybe more pain or anxiety, if you're in that era, you will definitely find this more helpful. So let's move on to the inner spring. So this is your otherwise known as your follicular phase. On my diary and in this chart, you'll see it's a pink color code and it's more yang energy. So what does that mean for you? If your yang energy is high, your creative juices are flowing. You're getting ideas in the shower. You're jotting things down left, right and center. You wish you had a full team of people to implement. Like you can't, like your output is so high. Loads of interesting content creation and a really good time for your business to design and plan offers, to strategize. This is an excellent time if you take on new clients in your business. It's amazing to meet with them for their first appointment in your business on the first, I'm sorry, on your spring. So on the second week of your cycle. In my diary, you'll see course creation. So again, any creative tasks, I'm really working on this. I'm not sure if this is going to be for everybody, but I think that with the way the left and right brain works, you will find that if your going to be kind of analyzing data, numbers and figures, anything problem solving, this is the perfect week to do it. So if you've data analysis, let's say you want to review your numbers in your business on a monthly basis, you could pre-book those blocks for data analysis into your spring. Okay, so mapping, launching, creative, strategic, definitely networking or booking new opportunities, as I said, client outreach, and you're going to feel your energy rising. Okay, this is when you start to come back to life. You're starting to get like your little, you know, you're starting to feel a little bit slimmer. Your jeans are fitting better. You know, you might start to sing along to your favorite, you know, song on Spotify again. And you're not like avoiding your workouts. Like you're excited to get into the gym. And yeah, definitely in my diary as well, I will put in friendship dates for team meetings, performance reviews always go in on spring. So that means you're going to be, you know, your most important people in your business are actually your staff. And you really want to be on fire. You're obviously talking number figures and you want to be really receptive and plenty of energy. So performance reviews are amazing to plan on that week as well. I also try and plan my annual and quarterly planning days, anything to do with copywriting, trying new things. So I mentioned travel. I mentioned holidays. It's brilliant to be on vacation in inner spring. You're going to want to explore. You want to talk to the guy, you know, the tour guide. He's not melting your head. You're going to want to like meet somebody for coffee. You want to get out there. You're trained training and gym endurance are going to be really good and you will enjoy better sessions. So yeah, your social battery is higher, definitely a higher output work wise. You're going to feel a little bit more flirty and sexy, so you might want to go on dates. You're definitely going to want to spend more time with your partner and you're going to feel really inspired. And if you're going to work some extra hours, I would say if you're going to have a busier week in the month, this is the week to do it. OK, I would definitely put way less in the diary in winter, but in spring you can you know, you can kind of work to your capacity a little bit more. You definitely want to use this creative and high energy phase for high ROI tasks. OK, anything that is going to have a huge return of investment that could be creating a team training, that could be if you do semi-permanent makeup, that could be when you do most of your new clients, anything that is going to make you more money or get you more time or anything that's going to have or could be spending time investing in your partner, investing in your children, this is a really great time to pour your energy. And, you know, you're not going to waste this magic on low ROI tasks. This is where I said, I don't want to go to the dentist in this phase. I don't want to book the doctors. I don't want to get my annual checkup. No, like I want to get out into the world. And this is where you are going to shine. So the peak day is usually 14, 15, 16 for most people. And for some people, they will find ovulation a little bit tiring. Me personally, I've never felt it. OK, so that kind of wraps up the inner spring. And those are the kinds of things that I would put into the diary for that phase. All right, let's move on to inner summer. So inner summer is this is your ovulation phase. So day 13, 14 ish to day 20 ish. This is your time to shine and connect. All right. You've got really high magnetic outward focus energy. Your brain is all about communication and collaboration. And this is the peak. This is when you are firing on all cylinders. It's amazing for visibility, pitching, speaking roles, showing up boldly, being in your power. And it's again, amazing time to be actually on vacation. All right. So some of the tasks I have and some of the things I have highlighted there, you will be in your highest feminine power, like you're in your element. Okay. I don't know how or why mother nature did this but this is when you are at your prettiest so if you've ever thought that you have certain days in the month when your skin glows and you look prettier you're not imagining it your oestrogen is at its peak and your skin will be more hydrated you will look slimmer your clothes will fit better everything physically and it's mother nature's way of making you attractive for mating by the way so that's what somebody told me once and it sounds about right so perfect time so for my calendar I have delivered in trainings, coaching calls, mentorship calls. My social battery is high. Energy is really good. I definitely want to get in more magnesium at this point because now I'm prepping for the next two weeks of my cycle when things can take a small dip. It's an excellent time to wrap up projects, to get things ticked off the list and prepare for your next week, which is more autumn. Your endurance sessions, if you're hiking, training, running and you plan longer runs, longer cycles, longer hikes for for example, more active yoga, this is a perfect time. So do be careful. The little caveats I have written, the little notes I have, do be careful. Your energy can dip earlier here. So depending on how stressed and how balanced your hormones is, you may notice a little dip at the end of this week. I find the more stress, the more your progesterone is under attack from stress, caffeine, alcohol, overworking. If you go too hard here in this week, you will pay for it badly in the next week because it really over time will cause your progesterone to dip really quickly and that's when you'll start to get more anxiety more anxious more irritable it's that week that we all absolutely dread the bloating but yes what you can do and I have a little note made on the spreadsheet to remind you really up your magnesium okay and if you're going to read and if you do suffer with those symptoms maybe lower your caffeine and stress okay so wrapping up projects getting ready for your last cycle week of the cycle which is autumn you want to give yourself a bit of space not to have too much when you're coming into the phase because this is when you will start to feel overwhelmed I have just made a note as well in perimenopause for some people that starts way earlier for me peri honestly started at 35 I probably didn't realize it but looking back I can see that I started to really notice that the second half of my cycle I crashed bad and that did go on for five to six years before I really learned about all of this and I had two good weeks every month and two weeks where I was honestly like just I I was useless. I felt miserable. It was awful. And because I didn't know about this, my schedule was the same and I had the same intensity where I'd be in my summer phase feeling or in my spring phase feeling really energetic and I would go and book way too much in my diary for that week or I'd put in a load of team calls. Just the week will come and the last thing you're going to want to do is those types of tasks. Okay. So in this phase, be super careful, super careful that you don't overcommit yourself because you're going to feel so good. Or if you know when you've made plans to see your friends and the plans come around and you go, oh my God, what was I thinking? All I want is the sofa and chill. That's when you've done that probably in your spring phase and you're like, hey girls, let's go to Bali or let's go for a weekend here or yeah, I want to do like hell and back. And then the week comes and you're absolutely burned out and overwhelmed. So that's when that can happen. All right, let's move on. quickly to the last phase, which is inner autumn. This is your luteal phase. Okay, so it's week four, day 20-ish to 28. On the chart, in my diary, I would color code it and you can see it's orange. Okay, so technically your cycle is going to end on day 28. And this is back from being yang in spring, yang in summer. This is more yin energy again. So this is very much mirroring, you're moving, cycling in. Remember, all of this is circular and and cyclical. So you don't just one day switch over, although sometimes you will feel it that sometimes if the hormones dip quickly, you can feel it nearly overnight, but you'll slowly start moving back into your yin. This week is super for kind of your energy is starting to like ease off. It's waning a little bit like the moon cycles. Now I could correlate all of this with moon cycles and I'm not going to because that's just a whole other level of the spiritual woo that's in my world. But I think that this is, I want to make this really accessible and understandable for everybody whether you're already into your lunar cycling or not like this is very practical so in this your energy is going to be quite waning grounding nurturing but still like detail orientated your brain is going to be critical thinking and a big focus on completing things not starting things we're wrapping up loose ends here so pretty good for execution maybe if you've done some creative tasks let's say you've recorded a podcast or done some creative let's say you've recorded some batch of reels or social media stories in spring and summer, this can be a good week to edit them and schedule them. You know, you don't have to be, it's not the same level of creativity required and it's kind of wrapping up that project. OK, it can be good for refining your content, refining your business offers and even organizing your systems and workflows. OK, so deep work and decision making works very well also. Again, just really careful not to overschedule you on this week. So things I have on my list and in my diary. Pack-a-pouse monthly tasks like finance and banking, roster planning, perfect task for the last week of your cycle, meetings set up and meet up for more suited days and weeks yeah sorry that again is just planning if somebody looks for me on that week I'll say look can we just can we move it to the following week great time I have pay bills donations anything like that jobs that need to be done but don't require massive creative capacity could be like tidying your house oh my god decluttering the most therapeutic thing you can do this week home organisation in my diary I have the last day 26 27 28 the last few days of my diary basically those three days before I get my cycle I put almost nothing in the diary does it mean I sit at home and do nothing no I go with the flow I see how I'm feeling and how the month was sometimes I need rest other times I want to be social other times I just want to clean my garage turn off my phone and have nobody talk to me just depends on where my energy is at but I allow myself that space not to put anything in the diary team meetings honestly minimum client meetings for those last few days to be honest with you nowadays with been on HRT I still work away with my current clients but I know when I was doing semi-permanent makeup I wouldn't book clients on those days because at the end of the day I still needed to get to the clinic I needed to really focus for two and a half hours and it's a very creative job you know if you're a facialist you can probably do facials but if you're somebody who does tattoo somebody's eyebrows on for a living you might not want to be creative on those days I'm always expecting lighter gym sessions putting less gym sessions if I feel I need it and if I need to give myself a day off actually again that's kind of not how I do it I don't actually take the gym sessions out but if I need to scale them back I scale them back so I don't really stop the gym but one thing I really would advise you to do is honor your need to really isolate and retract from social engagements like I am definitely introverted by nature I need to reach charge the batteries. So you might feel that you just need to retreat. You know, close family and friends, again, anyone who's low drain, somebody who's not going to like leave you feeling wiped. Amazing time to book yourself a massage, plan to read a book, make cacao, drink hot chocolate, think nurturing, mind yourself activities. One thing I would say is it's a great time if you like to take little digital detoxes, that few days, those weeks, it's a really good time to limit social media and screen time because they just annoy you and you're already starting to feel fat and bloated and over hungry and you're just not feeling your best and it can be kind of irritating if you're the kind of person who likes to be go go go but you're making yourself go with your body's natural you know requirement to relax you just feel like I feel so guilty when I see everyone else so active so I just turn the second thing off and just avoid it and nobody misses you and you don't miss anything and it's fine sleep can be a problem for some females again as you get a little bit older it can be a little bit trickier this week. So again, reducing caffeine and extra magnesium. Remember, we start that in our summer week as well. This is a personal one. I know there's conflicting information out there, but this is what works for me. If I'm feeling anxious, cold plunging, it boosts the dopamine, boosts my happy hormones. I feel better if I'm really starting to wilt or, you know, starting to dip a little bit. Cold plunging for me and my body works. You can do your own research. I also put on the spreadsheet that this too shall pass mantra if you're going to get overwhelmed ladies this is the week you will this is I actually sometimes giggle because sometimes I get really stressed out messages or you know voice notes from my clients let's say clients I know well who I'm working with one-to-one and I'll say hey is are you by any chance just about to get your cycle are you just about to start and they would often come back and say oh my god you're so right and I'll very often say to them I'm not like minimizing what you've said but can we park this thing until next week and if you still feel the same let's tackle it because very often your perspective is so different okay so this too shall pass if it's not something that's high priority if it's not if something's really stressing you or upsetting you ask yourself do I need to tackle this now or could we wait four or five days to see how my you know how things shift I'm just after thinking of something when I was younger I don't have a boyfriend at the moment okay but when I was younger I was a rip to my boyfriend We had a fight once a month. And this is way back. Like I'm talking when we were in our 20s. Nobody was talking about cycles or hormones. And now when I look back, now I know what was happening. I would be like a bitch on wheels with him. So cross. We'd have a huge row. And then you'd realize, oh, OK, I started my cycle. Now, obviously, now I'd say to my friends or if I was in a relationship, I'd say, you know, let's not have this conversation today. Today is not a good day. And it's the same with Bryn. Mom is kind of at her limits today. Can you, like, can we park this? Or sometimes, just to be honest, like I'm definitely not a perfect parent, but very often I will say, this is your warning, child. I'm on day 27. And if you proceed with this behavior, I cannot be held accountable for my actions. Obviously, it's just females in the house and she loves it. But I'll tell you, if I had a son, I would speak the same. And if I had a husband, he'd know about it too. And I think if men really wanted to, you know, utilize and harness the power and be in their true masculine, they would learn more about their female cycles and they would also benefit from the magic. Okay, so whether it's TMI for you and your managers, but my close managers would know when those days were approaching and I would give a little communication and say, girls, you know, I'm actually, I'm on day 28, I'm wiped. Now it depends if it falls on the weekend, they're not going to know about it. And to be honest with you, some weeks you'll, you know, you'll feel great, but we kind of have a little unwritten rule as well. If something is, if there's a bit of conflict, for example, let's say we had roster conflicts or let's say we were, you know, chatting about something and it was getting a bit like, oh, everybody's just getting a bit overwhelmed, there's too much. we've often said late somebody on the let's say the call might be just on their last few days of the cycle and we say guys will we park this until next week and everybody will be like yeah day 28 day 27 not a good time and it works so well works so well and you know sometimes you have a little bit of a cry or you might just feel like you know a little bit sad or it could be quite simply saying to the team I'm really sorry I'm just having a little bit of like hormonal anxiety so if I feel off with you if I'm a bit short it's not you it's me sometimes just having that one sentence can really protect and nurture. And obviously you're opening up as a female leader to your team and it makes you more vulnerable. There's such magic in that. I said this before and said it again. People say, oh my God, you have a 40, you work with 14, 15 women, whatever it is. It must be a nightmare. It's not a nightmare because we've created an environment whereby, to be quite honest with you, I prefer working with women. Like my, my podcast editor is female. My accountant is female. My financial planning lady who I've just recruited she's now female I like working with women you know so anyway so no it's not bitchy we've created a culture in our business where we talk about it it's open and it's not like you know it's not like we're invasively inviting people to that but you know we would if something happened we would also just it's giving your team members and yourself a little bit of grace at this time so definitely back into more yin energy more yoga slow mornings no early things in the diary give yourself a minute to wake up. Lots of journaling. Again, pretty good time to book maintenance appointments. Get the hair, the lashes, the nails, the pedis, the dentals. This is a good time to get it done because you don't have a huge amount of energy for everything else. So things that I would never ever do that week. I would never put a project deadline in. I generally won't meet new clients. I would never put in big planning meetings. So like high ROI tasks or high tasks like annual planning, quarterly planning. They're not going in there. Avoid making many social plans, if any. I close my diary for discovery calls. I'm not talking to new people. I can't talk to new people this week. I need just my safe space and my safe people. I don't plan any video creation shoots, no new business meetings. I don't do team performance reviews. And actually, for me personally, I'm blessed. I don't have to be in the clinic. I definitely avoid in clinic days if I'm feeling anxious. I won't go in because I don't want to bring that energy. When I work with the managers on the calls, so I don't bring the energy. I just excuse my energy. I said, girls, if you're getting like the anxiety vibes. I'm so sorry. This is how it is. And that is that your intention will change everything. But yeah, you don't want to be going in cross tired overwhelmed and then you go in and you see somebody hasn't like done the dusting on the skirting boards you don't want to get cross and react and be responsive in that way sorry reactive in that way with your team members because anytime I've ever responded in a reactive manner I always feel awful because if it's not in your true nature to be that way you don't want to do that because then you have to go oh my god I'm so sorry I was a bit sharp with you last week and obviously if you do apologize you know you're not making excuses but you know you have to apologize quickly if you do we're all Jesus we're not perfect and women should understand. Okay, no heavy conversations. Not making any commitments. My daughter comes asking, can I go this? Can I do that? And I say, we're not talking about that today. And I definitely avoid planning to leave for vacation this week. It's too busy and too stressful to start running around, hitting up done stores for the last minute bits and packing and wrapping up work. I never, ever have my last few days before I take a vacation this week because it's too busy and too stressful and you arrive in worse condition. Now, If I wasn't going to travel this week, I might just have it towards the end of the cycle where I'm, you know, getting ready to travel. But no, I don't generally do big hike days and I wouldn't really plan weekend away or social events with friends if I can at all in these last few days. OK, that really wraps it up. Hope it was helpful. I tried to make it as quick as I could. It's still we've gone on again, but I really do hope it helps. This is something that I feel should be shared with all females. And if you are, you know, in a family situation, I think give it to the guys as well it will help explain so much and it will help all of those things I want you to really honor your natural energy highs and lows harness this power like it's so amazing to be a woman and your creativity and intuition know when they're hitting be ready for them and utilize them and that is going to really reduce the stress in your life create you know a much more cohesive flow in your diary and a lot of these tasks you can pre-plan monthly you know the things you do on repeat every month or every few weeks you can advance plan and it really helps I think it like massively reduces stress you know from for business success I personally believe if you say if I was to give you the magic formula I think harnessing your masculine and matching it with your feminine and having them if you picture the yin and yang symbol you know the the black and white with the black and white dot and swirl in the middle that's how you want to run your business you need your systems processes and strategy you need to obviously be active when it's time to do you need to do when it's time to implement it's time to implement and when it's time to be creative and inspired then it's time to do those things if you're juggling multiple roles and you've got you know all of these tasks it can become so stressful and so overwhelming so fast and I really want that's that's the whole aim of the podcast I'm trying to be I'm out here doing God's work trying to help you and I learned all of these things the hard way and if there was something that I would have loved to have in my 20s it would have been this knowledge I got it late in my 30s but now I'm happy to have shared it with you so yeah I hope you like it not necessarily a beauty business podcast but um yep it was definitely one that i've been planning to do for a while and recently somebody reached out from a mentorship that i'm in in canada and she asked me um to do a zoom call with her for her and her daughter i was like let me get this episode recorded because i can share it with her as well all right that's it for me from today until next time i will speak to you all soon