Did you know that your body and the interplay between the sun, the moon, and the Earth are governed by the most ideal rhythm for you to manage your time?

And did you now that when you incorporate this very same rhythm into your life and work, you can get a lot more done with a lot less effort, feel way more alive, and feel on track in a way you’ve only ever dreamed of?

Whether you’re totally new to Cyclical Planning and were today years old when you first heard of it, or you’ve been trying to make it work for you but it needs refinement, or whether you’ve been rocking your Cyclical Planning and are always looking to learn more, you’re in the right place!

Dig on in because I’m revealing why organizing your time, work, and life cyclically is the GOAT time management/productivity system and how to get it to work for you, no matter how old you are, what your gender identity is, if and/or when you get a period, or which organs you still have or have ever had.

Cycles govern us all, so everyone gets to play. Yay!!!

Here’s the long and short of it:

Life on Earth is present because of the rotation of the Earth around the sun. The reason we’re alive (and the reason we don’t go floating off into space) is because of cycles.

All life is deeply connected to the seasons (aka the 4 phases of our annual cycle) and humans exist because of the menstrual cycle (aka the 4 phases that happen in bodies that bleed every month.)

Most of society is patriarchal, meaning it champions the qualities of the masculine (like being linear) over the qualities of the feminine (like being cyclical) so when it comes to time, we’ve been conditioned to see it as linear.

What’s true, however, is that we’re living on a round planet, orbiting a star, being encircled by another round celestial body that waxes and wanes every 29.5 days in the same rhythm as people with wombs in their reproductive years.

Learning to work with time as it truly is, which is cyclical, is the best way I know to:

• increase your productivity
• have more than enough energy for what matters
• feel super on track with your work and life
• know what to prioritize
• make decisions more quickly and with less stress
• just plain feel better most of the time
• have compassion for yourself when you’re not feeling your best instead of wasting your precious energy beating yourself up

How does Cyclical Planning work?

The basics are this:

If you get your period and you’re not on hormonal birth control, you have 4 distinct hormonal phases each month that determine how you feel and what type of work you’ll be primed for at that time.

Here are the phases, along with the lunar phase and the season each phase is like, and the kind of task you’re primed for at each phase:

Menstrual = New Moon = Winter = Rest + Reflect

Follicular = Waxing Moon = Spring = Plan + Initiate

Ovulation = Full Moon = Summer = Connect + Be Visible

Luteal = Waning Moon = Autumn = Focus + Complete

In one sentence, Cyclical Planning is the art of organizing your tasks based on what your body is most primed for given the phase of your menstrual cycle and/or the Lunar Cycle (more on that in a minute.)

But the most important thing to understand and practice is that the way you do things matters just as much, if not more, than what you’re doing.

What trips most folks up when they start Cyclical Planning are external deadlines, the needs of other people, their obligations, and all the other stuff in their lives that they can’t reorganize around their cycle.

So for all the stuff you can’t actually move around based on what’s going on with your body in a given week, focus on doing it in a way that honors the energy of the week.

Have a bunch of meetings and events to go to when you have your period? Cancel or reschedule what you can, and then dress cozily, drink tea, and leave yourself extra time so you can get to and from the rest of your engagements while taking your time.

Have a bunch of reflection and internal work to do when you’re ovulating and you feel like being out and about? Go to a coffee shop, schedule a co-working date with a buddy, and/or see if you can partner up with a team member to get the tasks done together so you can use your desire to cross-pollinate and connect to your advantage?

In the nearly 7 years I’ve been practicing and teaching Cyclical Alignment, the same questions come up repeatedly.

So, to help you make this work in your own life, I’ve linked out to our blog posts that answer the most common questions we get:

How do I align my work with my menstrual cycle? What if my menstrual cycle doesn’t align with the lunar cycle?

How can I practice Cyclical Alignment if I don’t get a period or my period is irregular due to perimenopause or other times of cycle changes? How do the different phases of my cycle work again and what day of my cycle am I in which phase?

Read the post that answers your question or read them all for a deep dive on all things Cyclical Planning!

This time management system works so freaking well, but you have to know that since it’s not the way most of the world works, it takes practice to make it work in your own life. And it’s soooo worth the time and effort to learn this skill and personalize it.

Also: Your body is gonna be so excited and recognize the truth in Cyclical Planning because it will immediately recognize that this system is the truth of where you come from.

More ease and flow await my friend. Cyclical Planning is the way.

Happy cycling,

Kate