Did you know that men have a 24-hour hormonal cycle but women have a monthly cycle? This is all related to our periods and I have seen huge benefits in my business once I starting syncing my business activities and tasks to my period cycle.
Tune in or read the blog below as I take you through how you can cycle sync your business!
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Prefer to read? Here’s the blog version…
Welcome back to the podcast! This episode is long overdue. I know in multiple previous episodes I’ve said that I would do a an entire episode around menstrual cycles and your syncing menstrual cycle phase with your business and I just never did.
Thank you for the reminder to my wonderful social media manager Sammy, who reminded me that I need to really record this. So today’s episode is Why You Should Sync Your Business To Your Period Cycle.
My Experience With Cycle Syncing Your Business
I’ve been cycle syncing for years now, and it’s such a powerful way for you to step into your power as a female business owner.
Personally, it has given me so much more ease in my business processes because I have a really good understanding about what is aligned for me to take action on for the week and what isn’t.
I want to start by saying that I am definitely not an expert in this. This should not replace medical advice. But I have read books and attended seminars and have done my own research, and obviously implemented it all so I’m speaking from personal experience.
Hormone Differences in Each Cycle Phase
When I was in Ericeira, Portugal, I attended a workshop on menstrual cycles at the coworking space Kelp Co-Work. They do amazing workshops and seminars and events.
I went to this one all about syncing your period to your business, which I had already been doing at the time.
Amy the speaker, had everyone, it was about maybe 20-25 of us, go around the room say which day of your cycle you were on and what you were feeling.
There are four phases of each menstrual cycle. It is the menstruation phase, follicular phase, ovulation phase, and luteal. And depending on which phase you are in, you have a natural drive to do different things and natural emotions that come up.
It was so funny because I remember I was on day 13 and I had felt like I wanted to be social, which is why I went to the event and I wanted to meet new people and I was just in this phase where I was really active with my social life.
Everyone else who was in the same phase as me, they felt the same versus there were other people who were on their period and everyone just said they wanted to crawl into a hole.
It affects all of us and learning how we can best run our business around our cycle is going to give us so much confidence and clarity.
Hormone Cycle Differences between Men and Women
The typical workday of waking up early, going to the gym, going to work, going to happy hour sleep, do it all over again – this was created around men’s hormonal cycles.
Men were in the workforce earlier and this whole schedule was created around their 24 hour hormone cycle.
Men tend to have more energy in the morning. They experience more or less the same emotions and the same hormones day after day after day.
Versus women; we experience monthly hormonal cycles.
When I first learned this, I was like, oh my gosh, this makes so much sense. And it clicked even further as I was trying to build and optimize and grow my business because I realized I was having the same cravings each month.
I was having the same energy dips and energy spikes at the same time each month, and I really wanted to work with my cycle rather than work against it.
I had read books on waking up at 5:00 AM doing so much before your day starts, and those things just never worked for me.
I am not a morning person, and there are definitely times of the month when I’m like, I do not want to wake up before 10:00 AM. It’s just physically impossible for me to do.
A lot of these books, they were written by men, for men.
If you find your little community, find your corner of the internet of women entrepreneurs looking to optimize and looking to scale and hustle hard, but in a way that is sustainable to us…
Welcome! You are here and you have found your people.
The Four Phases of Period Cycles
I’m going to start by explaining the 4 phases, and then I will share how I run my business around my cycle. I will also give you ideas on how you can move forward and do the same for yourself.
Menstruation is day one of your cycle, and this phase lasts for as long as your period lasts.
The next phase is follicular, the time between the end of your period and ovulation. This is when we see your estrogen levels and progesterone levels increasing, but we’ll go into that later.
Then we have ovulation where your egg is released, and this is when you are feeling the most outgoing and the most beautiful.
And then the longest phase is the luteal phase. This is from after ovulation until you get your period again.
Menstruation Phase
Starting with day one of your menstrual phase, this is when you will most likely be wanting to rest. You’ll want to be curled up in bed and you want to be planning low impact activities.
This is when I find myself really happy with my journal planning out the next month, as my energy is lower.
When I’m looking at my calendar, I know not to intentionally plan any social activities for the week.
Of course getting dinner with friends is okay, but if there’s like a networking event, if I had to speak in front of the camera, those activities I know I’m just going to naturally gravitate away from. And I am going to honor that.
You really want to give yourself space, you want to nurture your body, you want to honor that this is a season of rest.
Follicular Phase
After your period is over, we go into the follicular phase. This in between your menstruation phase and ovulation, your estrogen and progesterone levels are rising.
As they rise, you tend to get more and more social.
You come out of that dark hole and this is a really, really good time for you to be productive, for you to schedule those calls to participate in what they call alpha activity.
Because at the end of this phase, your testosterone levels are also going to see a little rise.
So it’s really good to be assertive and plan for things where you have to make decisions and be more in your masculine energy.
Ovulation Phase
Next we have ovulation. This is when your estrogen levels are the highest. This is when people have said that their face seems more symmetrical, they feel more beautiful, they have a higher sex drive, and this is when you really feel like in your power physically.
So the natural business activities to kind of do during this phase is to batch all of your content, to be in front of the camera, take on speaking engagements, get interviewed.
Do you see how when you can kind of allow yourself to schedule things that you’re naturally going to be good at, that is when it will feel like the path of least resistance.
Luteal Phase
Last but not least, we have the luteal phase where your progesterone, your estrogen, they are all spiking and then dipping.
It is a very hormonally intensive period, and this is when people exhibit signs of PMSing. I’m raising my hand because I’m definitely guilty of this!
During the luteal phase, you are very in your head. Sometimes you might let your thoughts get the best of you, you feel more irritable, you feel like nothing is working out, and you may compare yourself to other people (speaking from experience).
This is a really good time to ideate and plan.
What I’ve found to be true is this is a really good time to clean and to organize and do physical chores, because it gets your mind off of the million and one thoughts racing through your head.
So those are the four phases and those are some activities that you may naturally gravitate towards during those times. And now the key is to take notes on what works for you.
How To Successfully Sync Your Period To Your Business
After years of doing this myself, I have a really good grasp and understanding of how my business activities and the specific projects I’m working on are best suited around my cycle.
Depending on what type of businesses you run, depending on what business activities you have, what team members you have, all of these things are going to factor into how you can make this best work for you.
Track Your Period Cycle!
If you don’t track your period, this is a great place to start just to know and expect what is to come. Having a sense of, “Oh, I’m expecting to get my period on this day of the month”
Understanding that every 28 to 35 days you go through the cycle once and preparing yourself, instead of just retroactively being like, oh hey, I got my period today.
I use an app called Life, it is free. It tells you when you are expected to go through each of these phases.
That would be step one, to just get a sense of not only when you’re getting your period, but when you are ovulating or when you are going to enter the luteal phase.
Get a sense of that, and you can even add it to your calendar.
It’s helpful knowing at least a week in advance so you can plan your activities accordingly!
Track Easy Business Activities
Next, notice as you are going through your days and your months is what activities in your business come naturally for you, and at what phase versus those that you really just cannot bring yourself to do.
Track your symptoms!
Maybe times of the month you’re like, I just cannot record this for the sake of me. Take note of when that is and why that is.
I’ve definitely found during certain times of the month, it’s impossible for me to just sit in front of my laptop. I get so distracted, I sit down to do one thing and then the next thing you know I have a million tabs open and I’m like, why did I even open my laptop in the first place?
My to-do list just seems never ending because I just keep adding more and more and more. My mind is racing.
When you go through intense periods like that, take note, this is what is happening and this is when it’s happening.
Notice Patterns
Over time, you’re gonna see patterns. Patterns like, oh, during this week I always check my finances. During this week I always go through reels and have so many ideas for reels.
Maybe people around you even notice the same thing. Ragz always knows when I’m getting my period because I PMS and I get super irritable and I just don’t want to go out and see anyone.
Obviously during times like that, I know in my business not to schedule any social events, not to have to be in front of the camera, get all of my content batched before then.
You can recognize it in yourself, and you can allow the flexibility in your business to have it work in your favor.
Of course, because everyone is different, your activities for each of these phases might be different, right?
Start one step at a time. Start by just having the awareness and being able to predict or foresee what is to come. And even having that gives you more power, gives you your control back, gives you the opportunity to build a business that operates with the least resistance.
Cheers to stepping in and completely owning your feminine power.
I hope this episode was empowering and it gave you clarity. If you want to have any discussion about it, my DMs are always open! I will see you in the next episode my loves.
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