How to do it all without burning yourself out

I’ll be honest with you; although I’ve run my own business for years, I have been humbled by motherhood and the sheer amount things I have to do each day! My time just seems to evaporate! My baby is in a totally beautiful zen place with her schedule, but I do a lot to keep it that way. BUT, I have cycle-syncing in my back pocket. I greeted the return of my period two months ago with a cheer, I knew that I could start properly cycle-syncing my lifestyle again. I feel reconnected to the best way there is for me to organize my time and my daily routine. Fall is a busy time for many of us, what with school back in session, work schedules picking up after the summer break, holidays around the corner, and everyone wanting to do their best before the year’s close. As women we hold this belief that we can and ought to serve everybody and often we then forget to serve ourselves. With the return of my cycle I have decided to make some changes to my schedule to accommodate the new priorities in my life. I need MORE time for self-care in fact than before. Making high quality breast milk is serious business! The secret to my success in managing my time is two fold - first I decide what daily activities are non-negotiables for my self-care and my daughter’s and then I layer the cycle syncing over that. So here’s what my new general daily schedule looks like right now:6:30 - me, my baby, and hubby get up and have eggs together7 - meditate and write8 - workout and breastfeed9 - baby nap, shower, breakfast #29:30 - work OR 10-11:30: Out with baby, meet with friends11:45 - make my baby’s lunch12:15 - lunch break with my baby girl12:45 - baby nap1 - work (breastfeeding break) OR 1:30 - 3:30: Out with baby or meetings4:30 - cook dinner5 - dinner5:30 - bath, breastfeed, and baby bed6 - email/social media OR 6-9: Out, date night with hubby, or events 7 - yoga7:30 - tv8:30 - read9:30 - floss and gratitudes10 - bedAt first, I worried about not being able to just “work all day”, but the idea of working all day long, every single day is not realistic or in my best interest at this time in my life or really anytime. And then I worried about not being able to be “spontaneous” to take advantage of all that happens here in the city. The reality is however, that everyone’s time, including yours and mine, is super valuable, and the whole concept of being spontaneous means that you fundamentally don’t value your own time. That you would rather value the timing of others and go with the schedule that works best for them. That one was a big realization for me in wrangling this time management beast - that scheduling is actually a way of honoring time and creation - deep. Even Julia Cameron, in the essential-read “The Artist’s Way” mandates that one should schedule time to be creative, or schedule time to walk around agendaless for inspiration. That those activities are so sacred that they must be scheduled or they’ll never happen. In 6.5 hours I can do SO MUCH more than I thought possible and the truth is I was constantly distracted even when I didn’t have a child, so being “interrupted” from work for breastfeeding or cooking is no big deal. Now when I sit down now I am much more efficient. I just do what needs to be done and prioritize. These seeming “constraints” actually make me super efficient.I think we need to rethink being busy. I’m constantly on the move, more so than ever now that I’m a mother, but doing only what feels good to me in each week of my cycle during my activity blocks of the day totally keeps me in my A game and allows me to be present for my child. It’s a practice of prioritizing pleasure, self-care, love, and creativity actually - an opportunity for focusing on making the right priorities at the right time and mapping these decisions onto your cycle.Is it perfect everyday? No way. Does sh*t hit the proverbial fan? You bet. Is motherhood a constantly changing landscape and are children unpredictable? Absolutely. But just like with my diet, I live by the 80/20 rule. If 80% of the time I’m on track, the 20% of the time life happens, I don’t have to worry about feeling like I’m never going to find my groove again, and again, I can stay present and be open to the moment.

Cross-training your day-to-day - from your career to your social life

What I choose to work on during my work and what I eat and how I exercise vary week over week in my cycle. This structure gives me so the ability to get to everything, but not at the same time, and to have variety in my life despite having to stick to a pretty tight daily schedule at the moment for the sake of my daughter’s wellbeing. The four hormonal phases of your menstrual cycle are a blueprint for how you can better organize your life. Following this blueprint provides an alternative to constantly feeling stressed, too busy, and overstretched. I feel like we’re in the middle of a busyness epidemic and too many women are getting crushed under the weight of trying to do it all at once, all of the time. For years I’ve been teaching clients at Flo Living to not only eat and exercise in accordance with their cycle, but also to plan their other activities, work, and social life around their hormonal phases. I find it usually takes just three months before it becomes habit. Flo Living isn’t just a diet, you see, it’s a lifestyle change, and that means transformations across the board that will help you feel better and allow you to enjoy life to the fullest. For more on cycle-syncing your work outs and diet see here and here.Our energy levels, perspective, mood, talents, and desires change and flow throughout our cycle and if we tune in to this we can get much more out of what we love as well as better tackle and conquer what we find trying. Of course, all of this depends on balanced hormones - if you’re hormones are off-kilter you won’t reap the benefits of their potential and vice versa, if you don’t consciously cycle-sync your lifestyle you may find your hormonal health suffers.

How-to guide to cycle-syncing your lifestyle

If you want to dive deeper with me and learn my cycle syncing embodied time management secrets - take my master class: Secrets of Cycle Syncing - download here.Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this - the science of your body is on your side!to your FLO,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, how do you feel about more structure opening up more freedom in your life? Second, are you aware of your 4 hormonal phases and how to use them for your benefit?Third, you know every one you know is hormonal - spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below ;)

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!