It’s a fact of life that everything runs in cycles, including you. To be happy, and to have a great business that you’ll love in the long run, you need to respect and honor your cycles. Both the ones in your life and the ones in your body. Trying to fight them won’t work.

Do your best to arrange your business in a way that honors your personal cycles. That way you make the most of what you have to work with.

I’m not only talking about your menstrual cycle. There are lots of examples of cycles, like these:

Creative cycles
Whether that means that you prefer to vary your creative pursuits or the cycle of creation itself, you’ll feel a lot better about writing if you write when you are in writing mode instead of trying to write when you feel like doing something else. Create in bulk to cover the times when you don’t want to.

Menstrual cycle
This will affect your energy, so don’t forget about it. For many it also affects their mood. Scheduling meetings when you know you have bad PMS is probably not a good idea.

Energy cycles
We all have times when we have less or more energy, and there’s a pattern to it. There’s no point in pushing it during the times when you know you’re low on energy. You also need to make the most out of the times when your energy level is high. This cycle is hard to predict, so you need to follow it closely to see your pattern.

Seasons
Maybe you’re more energetic in Spring and you feel like you want to hibernate during Winter? Then arrange your launches and other business events according to that. If Autumn is what gives you a real boost, then plan for it. If you have a chronic condition, you’re probably noticing the weather. You can’t predict every day, but you can estimate how the season will affect you.

Moon phases
The Moon affects us all, this has been proven several times but how much and exactly how it affects each one is different. Maybe you find it hard to sleep during the Full Moon? I have a couple of friends with that problem. If that’s true for you, don’t plan to do something that takes a lot of energy on the day after a Full Moon.Business cycles: Sometimes there’s less business or work, sometimes there’s more. Like when the taxs are due and when clients are on vacation.

Business cycles
Sometimes there’s less business or work, sometimes there’s more. Like when the taxs are due and when clients are on vacation. You may also prefer to cycle your subjects if you’re a multi-passionate like me.

So how do you honor your cycles in your business?

If you’re well aware of your cycles, you can start right away by rearranging your main tasks according to when you know it’s optimal to do them. When you know you’ll be at your best for that particular task.

If you don’t know that much about your cycles, start by taking short notes about how you feel each day, and then you can start noticing patterns. You may not need to follow all of the cycles above. Follow the ones that you know will affect you.

One of the ways I’m doing this

One of the ways I’m following my cycles this year is by planning my business according to the Full Moons of the year, and the Moon phases. In January, I made this chart of all the Full Moons of 2016 with their meanings according to what sign they will be in, plus the meanings of the Moon phases. I’m using it to guide my work and to create my more detailed plans for each month.