Seasonal Alignment

Aicila: [00:00:00] All right. So I don't know if this happens to you. You wake up, you go outside, and it's bright and beautiful, and everything in you wants to run into the mountains or go swimming or call your friend and see if they can hang out and just soak in the beauty of the summer

It can, especially as an entrepreneur, especially as a solopreneur, especially someone who has a lot of freedom around their time, it can feel like work is competing with the opportunity to enjoy the, the outside world, to enjoy the summer vacation. And it puts work and summer on the same access, in an axis, fighting for the same hours.

However, that pull to go outside and [00:01:00] to enjoy the sun, to enjoy the, the nat- to enjoy nature might actually be telling you which energy is available and which isn't. I just wanna put that out there that, like, it... You can plan for that. You can try and make your hours shorter in the summer. There are places in the world where you get a lot of vacation time.

But, but if that's not you, right, really think about the ways that you can understand what that is. So it could be that your creative and connection energy really needs some time and attention, and forcing yourself to sit behind a screen checking things off a box might be a high effort input for a low return task.

You could grind for two or three hours and produce what you might have been able to do for an hour in October Like I said in our last episode, you know, I'm very seasonal, a lot of us are, and f- expecting your energy to be sort of the same [00:02:00] across the year and expecting your draw to different things to be the same is a great way to set yourself up to be a little stressed out and overwhelmed.

And so it's remembering to set yourself up for success and work to design your time in the summer so you don't have a debt in September in terms of your work. And maybe design your time so that in the, uh, spring, you're setting yourself up to have a little bit lighter of a summer, or schedule yourself some of those big breaks.

Like, I'm going camping this week, and I'm really excited about that. And I've been really working to create space for that so that I can enjoy being outside, enjoy being in nature, enjoy being with my friends, and en- and enjoy what summer brings without feeling that sense of... And so this week, when I have to do the work, do a little extra so I can go, I just keep reminding myself, next week, I get to be sitting by a [00:03:00] fire.

So really think about also, like I said, like, if it is connection energy, think about ways that you can plan extra networking opportunities or socializing with contacts and new contacts and relationships that you really wanna build, not behind a screen, in the real world, so that you can get outside, get out into the world, get those feelings of movement and connection.

 And, and think about that, too. I think the other thing that I, that I've found when I think about things from the perspective of energy is it gives you a chance to consider what you're doing from a place of A, a less, um, a less black and white place. So instead of this is good or this is bad, it's what fits right now.

And the other part of that is what do I have to do? Is I, you know, I... And if you're one of those people like, "Oh, this is too..." You're probably not listening to me if you're one of those people who is like, "There's one right way to do things." But if for some reason that creeps up in your head, as it often [00:04:00] does for people, just recognize, like I'm, I'm not saying that, that we shouldn't put our priorities first or show our responsibilities or do the things that we've said we're gonna do.

I think it's very important to deliver. I also think it's very important to keep your word to yourself first. So if I have said that I'm going to do this project or complete this task, and I don't do it, I, I feel like that has implications for the trust that I have for myself and my own follow-through.

So I really do feel like strongly that that is an important, uh, habit and practice to have. That said , you can't get blood from a stone. If, if you are in a place where you have run yourself down, you're gonna have to acknowledge reality, take a step back, and really understand what is realistic and, and what fills your cup.

And there's something about... I, I lived in Tacoma, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest for a while. And I think one of the things that you learn when you live there [00:05:00] is to take advantage of good weather because it is genuinely so rare. And so when you're out, when you look outside and the sun is shining, you really say like, "Mm, is this that important?

Can I do this after the sun goes down or whatever it is?" And especially if you have kids, you know, if I've got two nice hours, I'm gonna go take them outside and shift things a little bit so that everybody wins. So that's, that's what I'm gonna leave you today. Just think about that, you know, how, how you can account for that without judging yourself, and what, what would you stop forcing if you trusted that that energy would come back, uh, and that you would keep your word to yourself?

And if you wanna take the energy snapshot, it's on my website, bicurean.com/energysnapshot, and get a sense of your energy, what you default to.

Thank you for tuning into business as unusual, remember, in this ever evolving world of modern business, it's not about fitting in.

It's about standing out. See you next [00:06:00] time. Stay curious, stay innovative, and always keep it unusual.