Learning more about your cycle and your body will allow you to use all the new knowledge as a great weapon.

I already had another article in a pipeline that needed finishing, but I couldn’t resist writing this one for you first.

Today was a day with capital ‘D.’ I went to do the grocery, and on the way to the mall, I made two wrong turns. I was not concerned as it only took me a few minutes to return back to my road. However, when I was on my way home, the first turn I made wrong, the second turn I made incorrectly, the third turn I made not right…

Just for your imagination, when you make a wrong turn in Dubai, most likely, you have 20 minutes on the top of your average journey time. Driving already for almost 30 minutes and not being any close to my home, I made the fourth turn wrong. And what do you think happened with the fifth turn? Wrong. 

OMG, I was panicking. But this was when I realized that this was not the first time I was in this situation. It was a few months ago. I remember being quite upset and nervous, for no apparent reason, and I made all the possible turns wrong back then.

So what was going on with me

Then I got this flash in my mind. Yes, it was just before my period, as it is now. I started to laugh. Geat. Good that I began to record my monthly cycle to improve my planning.

At least I can note this situation down; “Don’t even dare to drive when you are just before your period.”

Do you experience anything similar? I guess so because now I know I am not alone in this. What exactly caused this lack of focus and sense of orientation?

Differences in women’s brain during the month

What happens in a woman’s body before the period? I did some investigation. According to Human Reproductive Biology (Jones and Lopez),

women with relatively higher testosterone levels scored higher in visual-spatial tests than women with low testosterone levels.

Of course, I have to say here, that the reaction to hormonal changes varies from woman to woman. Therefore, before we can fully understand how we and our body react, we need to record our monthly cycle, feelings, moods, and stories at least for the three consecutive months. Some many tools and templates can help you to journal about your monthly cycle. I am mentioning a few in my article here as well. 

Discover your feminine super powers

Learning more about your cycle and your body will allow you to use all the new knowledge as a great weapon. 

The menstrual cycle is a huge unrealized personal and work asset. Miranda Gray

We usually see the menstrual cycle as an inconvenience, but this is just our ignorance towards the fact that our great feminine superpowers change during the month. 

Why conventional time management doesn’t work for women

When you try to follow any conventional time management approach, that is most of a linear character, always something doesn’t work. How can it work, when it basically forces you to mostly focus on creating a routine, to prioritize based on the importance of the task and not based on your abilities’ natural peaks and downs? 

“Our bodies give us a master plan for producing life—as well as organizing our life”

said Dr. Kecia Gaither (Director of Perinatal Services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, and a double board-certified physician in Ob/Gyn and Maternal-Fetal Medicine) for Forbes.

I tried to understand which abilities are active during my cycle, so I adopted Miranda Gray‘s idea and illustrated it in the following picture. 

Different cycle phases

The cycle is divided into four main phases, menstruation phase, pre-ovulation phase, and pre-menstruation phase. 

The first menstruation phase is called reflective. You would be usually calm and able to let go of things that don’t serve you anymore.

The second phase is named dynamic. It would be the second week of your monthly cycle. Ordinarily, you would feel full of energy, you would be rational and logical.

The third expressive phase reflects the higher levels of your feminine sex hormone. It will make you empathetic, caring, and listening to others. The last stage of the monthly cycle is creative when your intuition and creativity are at their peaks. 

Even a more detailed map of the cycle phases is created by Holy Hormones Consulting. They created a whole awareness guide that is available in pdf version for free here. It presents 8 different periods of the monthly cycle, based on the moon cycles. 

Another great detailed explanation of the monthly cycle changes is made by invisible-lioness.com. They created a great, easy-to-understand chart that shows what to eat, how to exercise, feelings, and what tasks to schedule each week of the cycle.

For example, during the pre-ovulation phase, you should be starting new projects, focus on mental tasks, calculate budgets, do strategic planning, or learn something.

The ovulation phase is an excellent time to socialize, organize meetings or meetups. Further, you can focus on customer relationship management, create & nurture productive relationships, conflict resolutions, or self-marketing.

The pre-menstrual phase is an exact opposite, and you should definitely avoid meetings. You should better delete or delegate tasks, create fixes for problems, brainstorm new ideas, and you can try to organize or tidy up your home or workspace. Yes, and for me, I should not be driving during this time. 

And finally, the last menstrual phase is an excellent time to slow down, think about the bigger picture, make big decisions, and reflect.

Revolutionary way of time management for ladies

Wow, this is quite a change when thinking about my time management. I would definitely think about all this information when I make my next weekly/monthly plan. What about you? 

To create your next week’s unique plan, you can use our free special weekly planner. 

Imagine how this can increase your productivity and get your creativity to rock. You can finally understand why some days you just don’t want to talk to anybody. And finally, you would stop feeling guilty for being so ‘lazy.’ You will recognize that it is the pre-menstrual period, and your body just needs the energy for its own great project. 

I mean, for me, this is so empowering and relieving. It definitely doesn’t mean to leave the time management tools altogether. It just means that women need to approach them in their own unique way. 

I hope this article will help you at least understand your body and increase your productivity. If you like what you read join our community and get some cool freebies, discounts and much more…

Best, yours KatkaG