Do it by cycle
Everything in our lives goes in cycles.
The better we understand the key cycles of our lives, the more stable and successful we become.
In this article we describe two key cycles of our lives.
Basic science about cycles
As only we abandon scrolling and start paying attention to our actual lives, we immediately see that everything around us goes in cycles.
No matter what, when and how we do, any activity can be presented as a cycle or a part of one.
Each cycle always has the same structure, which consists of 4 stages: beginning, development, finish and transition.
Understanding that everything goes by cycle is a life-changing experience.
It gives us motivation to undertake actions and respect our attention.
The life itself goes by cycle.
The Today cycle
Structure of the cycle:
Beginning: morning.
Development: day.
Finish: evening.
Transition: night.
The cycle of Today is the most important and the most difficult cycle to follow.
Still, everything that happens in our lives always happens today and today only.
Tomorrow never comes.
Beginning
It is up to a personal lifestyle to specify the borders of each stage of the Today cycle. For this article we will take the most common approach and recognised scientific facts.
Circadian rhythm reflects our body cycle during 24 hours period.
So neuroscience claims that 8 hours of sleep is our natural daily demand. It is also claimed that 22:00 is the best time to go sleeping. According to this knowledge, the beginning of the Today cycle starts at 6:00 and lasts till 10 or 11:00.
During this period our intellectual functions are at their peak. Therefore, the morning stage of the Today cycle is the best period for studying, given that we did have a good sleep.
Morning decides the day, so if we want to be productive today, it is important to accomplish some work in the morning already. It can be some simple and fast work like making calls, writing e-mails and performing routine tasks.
Development
Day is the development stage. It is the most challenging part of Today cycle.
The entire outcome of our lives depends on what we are able to do in the daytime on a regular basis.
This is the part of the Today cycle which is the most appropriate for diligent work.
The day stage normally lasts till 17 or 18:00, depending on our regime.
At the end of the day stage, just before the evening stage, it might be a good idea to have a rejuvenating nap for 30-60 minutes.
It helps to recharge our batteries and generate additional energy for the final stage of the Today cycle.
Finish
In the evening, our attention has the lowest value, so we can totally pay it to our personal life: hobbies, dates, entertainment.
A common mistake is to procrastinate for the entire morning and day in the illusion of catching up in the evening.
It never works.
The evening is not the place for the “final effort”. Evening is the period to enjoy our existence and to reward ourselves for all the achievements we have accomplished today.
The evening is also a good time for any joyful physical activity.
Our attention gets cheaper towards the evening.
Transition
After we fall asleep, the transition period begins. During this time, the body performs different types of maintenance work and energy generation, while showing us some cheap and ridiculous movies.
As it was written above, 22:00 is claimed to be the best time to go sleeping.
With the end of the transition period, the Today cycle starts from the very beginning.
It is still the very same cycle, only in slightly different conditions.
Weekly cycle
Structure of the cycle:
Beginning: Monday.
Development: Tuesday – Thursday.
Finish: Friday – Saturday.
Transition: Sunday.
The Weekly cycle is the second key cycle of our lives and this is the main cycle all our activities should be organised around.
We do not think of how much we can accomplish today. We think of how much we can accomplish in one week.
A very small number of people are able to plan their activities on a weekly scale and then accomplish what they have planned.
Ability to organise our work on weekly basis is very valuable.
Beginning
The Weekly cycle begins on Monday. This is the day to evaluate our current challenges and plan our respective activities.
As the morning stage decides the Today cycle, the same way Monday decides the Weekly cycle.
That is why it is a good idea to accomplish the most demanding and complicated tasks on Monday already.
In this way, we take the biggest load in the very beginning and reduce the pressure of the upcoming week.
Development
Days from Tuesday till Thursday are pretty similar to each other, and they are the best for doing routine tasks.
Most of our workload should be distributed between these three days.
Finish
Friday and Saturday are the days to finalise the Weekly cycle. They work similar to the evening stage of the Today cycle.
The very same way, we do not want to waste our attention from Monday till Thursday in the desperate hope of accomplishing the entire weekly plan in two hours on Saturday morning.
Friday and Saturday can also be used for work, but they still should be mostly dedicated to our personal activities.
Transition
In the Ruthenian language, Sunday is called “неділя” [nedil’a] which literally means “no deed”, “no work”, “no business”.
Sunday is the legit day for doing nothing.
And by nothing we mean nothing at all.
We worked so diligently and smartly during the beginning and development stages of the Weekly cycle.
During the final stage, we spent the last remains of our mental and physical energy.
Now it is the time to do nothing.
Sleep, soak, relax and let everything go.
Monthly cycle
The monthly cycle is very conditional and mostly exists for underpaid employees.
Having a stable job with a stable monthly income creates the illusion of a monthly cycle.
This cycle rolls around payday, spending money, trying to save some money, having no money and waiting for the next payday.
Unlike the Today or Weekly cycle, the monthly cycle is not triggered by a clock or calendar. It is triggered by the fact of getting paid once per month.
So the beginning of the cycle is the payday and a week / weekend after that. It is the best time to spend money we have on buying stuff we do not need.
Development of the cycle consists of paying for regular costs like rent, utilities, transport card and the bank loan for a new iPhone.
The final stage of the cycle is mostly very sad, since except for a pack of milk, we are not able to afford much.
During the transition period, we live in a sort of hibernation mode, dreaming about the next payday and all the stuff we do not need which we are going to buy.
As it was written above, a monthly cycle is an illusion, and it is irrelevant for improving our personal organisation or overcoming chronic procrastination.
Monthly cycle is an illusion. It is all about payday.
Yearly cycle
Another mostly illusionary cycle is a yearly cycle.
The periods of this cycle depend on the specifics of our personal situations.
For farmers, the yearly cycle starts in spring, for students in September, for tourist business owners, it starts with a high season and for most of us, the yearly cycle starts as only we get more or less sober after Christmas holidays.
The yearly cycle may be applicable for specific types of business activities, but still the yearly cycle has little significance for overall work organisation.
Yearly cycle works differently for different people.
On ByCycle we work by cycle
To summarise: there are two key cycles which seriously affect our lives: the Today cycle and the Weekly cycle. Observing and following these cycles will bring enormous benefits and will considerably improve our productivity and ability to run our own projects.
Monthly and yearly cycles are basically illusions and their impact on our lives is very little, to say the least.
ByCycle was designed with the main idea of following the Today cycle and the Weekly cycle.
For that purpose, we integrated a simple Calendar, an easy-to-use Weekly Plan, a Time report to see what we are paying attention to and a system of statuses to track work progress.
ByCycle is a beautiful and simple tool for work planning and team collaboration.
Try ByCycle for free and see how it works for you.
Check our gallery for more pictures of ByCycle.
For any questions or comments, feel free to contact us here.
