This is a jam between Angela and me on what happens when you go against your daily rhythms and having awareness and synchronicity with your natural biorhythms. We also chat about creative energy, adapting to schedule shifts, peak creative times, “screen sucking”, schedule optimization, and more. Ready? Let’s do this!
Topics We Explored:
Biorhythms: what they are and how they might affect your productivity1
How to use heat mapping to identify your peaks
How seasonal changes may shift your biorhythms
How the industrial biorhythm is not natural for many of us
Experimenting with our natural rhythms to see how that affects creativity, productivity, well-being
How social media manufactures urgency and importance
And more…
Mentioned in This Episode
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Episode Timestamps
[0:32] Thank you to SaneBox.com for sponsoring episode #88.
[1:40] What’s been going on since Angela and Charlie’s last podcast?
[3:33] What are biorhythms?
[5:03] Spring is in the air and there is a lot of shift in people’s creative energy.
[6:11] Charlie has shifted his native biorhythm to meeting in the mornings and creating in the afternoons. How is this new schedule change working for him?
[7:40] What are Angela’s peak creative times?
[8:32] This industrial biorhythms a lot of us are on is actually not natural in some ways.
[11:11] If Charlie already knew what his creative peak times were, why did he change it?
[14:15] The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there’s no difference between theory and practice!
[19:46] Angela weighs in on how technology and modernity has changed our natural biorhythms. How does this relate to habit changes?
[21:56] Charlie goes on a social media rant as it relates to “screen sucking”.
[25:24] Charlie knows when he’s “screen sucking” but he stops and asks if what he is doing is nourishing.
[27:34] Charlie’s new schedule has resulted in him getting a lot more done in the last couple of weeks but it’s not sustainable.
[30:38] When did Charlie know his schedule change was not going to be sustainable in the long term.
[36:20] The point Charlie wants to drive home is to pay attention to what parts of your schedule are working for you and what aren’t.
[36:34] Angela and Charlie discuss the challenges women face with regards to their biorhythms and how they internalize set expectations.
[40:11] What’s your natural biorhythm? Lean in to that!
[40:44] How can you plan and negotiate your day so that you’re really tapping into the energy when it’s best for you, and not doing things at the wrong time.
[40:59] What are the signals that you use to gauge whether you’re energetically on point?
[41:27] What permission will you give yourself to explore creating a schedule that’s more nourishing for you?
[42:07] Angela’s gentle reminder: practice compassion with yourself while you’re going through these changes.
In Start Finishing I introduced these three chronotypes as:
A Night Owl is at their most productive between 8pm and 4am.
A Lark (early bird) is at their most productive between 4am and noon.
An Emu (my word for a betweener, or afternooner) is at their most productive between noon and 8pm.
I’ve since adopted Dr. Michael Breus’s four-chronotype framework (Wolf, Lion, Bear, and Dolphin), which you can read about here.
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