Menstrual Cycle Productivity: The Art of Working With Your Cycle, Not Against It with Renae Fieck

9:23AM Nov 14, 2023

Speakers:

Angela Foster

Renae Fieck

Keywords:

phase

rhythm

oestrogen

ovulation

luteal phase

work

menstrual cycle

week

day

ovulating

cycle

women

feel

business

clients

body

put

talking

produce

testosterone

really helping women just come back to listening to what their body's telling them and where they're at. So, use that kind of lean into it and see how it feels. And if it doesn't work, then shift it.

You're listening to the highperformance. Our podcast helping you optimise your health performance and longevity. My name is Angela Foster, and I'm a former corporate lawyer and high performance health coach. Each week, I bring new cutting edge bio hacks, inspiring insights and high performance habits to unlock optimal health performance and longevity. So excited that you've chosen to join me today. Now let's dive in Iran, you're probably aware of the need to think about your nutrition and your training around the menstrual cycle, and how it can really impact your hormonal health and balance. But you may not have thought about it in terms of productivity and creativity and energy. That's what I'm really excited to introduce you to my guest on today's episode. It is Rene FACC, who is an occupational therapist, and also a business coach who helps women unleash more productivity, creativity and energy in their lives through cyclical living, you're going to hear how the impact of the menstrual cycle and our circadian rhythm impacts our energy on a daily basis and how we can really sync with these things for more flow, productivity, and overall energy in life. So without further delay, let me introduce you now to Renee feet. So Rene, I'm so excited to have you here today you're talking about well, we're gonna be talking about something that's near and dear to my own heart. How to optimise high performance for women. Very excited to have you on the show a very warm welcome.

Thank you. I am thrilled to be here. So excited. Yeah,

really exciting. So let's start with talking around. I think if we just provide a framework for women, some women will be familiar. We've talked quite a bit on this podcast around hormones and bio rhythms. But not everyone will have heard it in the context of how to optimise their performance, right. Often we think about how can I customise my nutrition around the menstrual cycle? How can I do it with my training? We're going to be talking about performance. Do you want to just give an overview first of all, so people can start to understand it and how that might work? Yeah,

for sure. So typically, we have oestrogen in the first half of the month. And oestrogen is that hormone that kind of makes us feel like sharp and clear and ready to produce and go and push hard and like kind of like big picture, I guess is a good way to put it and like ready to take action on the big picture. And then progesterone is the second half of the month. And progesterone has a very different feel. I had one time I was talking to like a pharmacist and she kind of referred to progesterone is like a natural Xanax. It's kind of like the mood Schiller, like the pullback and the calm. And they both have very different fields on how we produce and how we work and, and even just this last week, I was talking with a friend and she was like, Man, I like a week or two ago felt like I had it together. I felt like I was driving. I was doing all these things with the kids. And I was managing all the balls that I had up on my air. She's like, but right now I'm just like struggling and I was like, where are you in your cycle. She's like, I think I'm gonna start my period and about three days. And I'm like, it's totally normal like that feeling that that thought those feelings, the the beliefs that come into play. Like they're all very different during that phase versus the oestrogen phase. So it is kind of looking at how those two hormones impact us throughout the month in the way that we work in the way we produce things, the way we get things done, the way we think the way we interact with our families, the way we interact with our work our business, like all of those different things like literally like you said, nutrition and exercise, like all those things are impacted. But literally everything in our life is impacted by our hormones. And sometimes I feel like this side of it gets missed.

It definitely does. I agree. And I think you know, it's so interesting when you talk about that with beliefs, because I've learned over time now, just to remind myself, when I get to that late luteal phase, there's like, Okay, we've been here before many times, in my case, because I'm older now, you know, I know what this feels like. And this is why I'm feeling like that. And it almost actually totally, I don't know what you think and what you found with clients, but it releases the pressure when you acknowledge that it's okay. And this too will pass. And it's just a phase because it's part of the menstrual cycle phase. And that isn't really you or what you believe necessarily.

Yeah, no, 100%. And I think that that that is one of the number one things that clients tell me, they're like, oh, my gosh, I just have permission to like, do it the way that I want to do it or the way that feels good with me with my friend, we were sitting in the park and she was like, you don't realise how much you just relieved so much from me. Like it just changed the way I'm looking at everything going forward. And it's as simple as just making that MicroShift like the awareness that you talk about just bringing the awareness to where we are throughout our phases, puts into perspective, so much of what we're feeling so For me, I work a lot with women in business. And so there is in the business realm, which is more of a masculine dominated dominated realm for a very long time. There's more women in business now than ever before, which I think is amazing. But for a while, it's been so male dominated. And so women have had to try to kind of conform to that way of being in business. And so we hear a lot of things around consistency. We just need to be consistent every day, we need to kind of push past those excuses. We just have to keep going, we have to work harder. We have to make the sacrifices nobody else is willing to do. And all of those things sound really motivational. But what they do is they they turn off our ability to listen to our bodies, it turns off us actually tuning into you know what, right now, my body is telling me no, like, I actually do need to take a break. No, I actually do need to shift gears and switch. And it's so focused on these outcome, goal driven pieces, which, I mean, I work with highly ambitious women, so they achieve big things. But it's about creating this rhythm throughout the entire month, versus feeling like we have to just keep pushing and allowing ourselves that permission, like you talked about and letting go of the guilt of okay, I was performing at my top notch a week ago, and this week, I'm just not, rather than fighting it, we let ourselves lean into it. And then that's where our really true power comes from. I

love that. And there's things that you can do. I mean, I find out the or I found that, you know, at that stage, kind of more administrative tasks style, things that still need to get done is a perfect time to do them. Right. It's just that I'm maybe not as creative as I am at the beginning, right? Yeah,

yeah. So each phase throughout the month really has a different kind of focus. So the beginning of the if we start at the menstrual cycle, right, so I call it the recharge phase, because that's what it really is geared towards is helping you recharge, if you look at what are the things that actually light you up and fill your cup, and do all of those types of things, I oftentimes recommend to my clients like taking the week off of social media, because there's some people that believe that it's your most intuitive time, and the time when you're the most in touch with your subconscious beliefs. And so when we took when we're clouded with all the stuff that's coming at social media, and we're like, oh, that person's doing this thing, and oh, this person is doing it this way. And oh, this person is doing it like that. It cuts us off from really being able to tune in. So I highly recommend that my clients like get out in nature, go do something create that spaciousness, right? When we have things when our life is filled in with tonnes and tonnes of stuff and tonnes of clutter, we never allow ourselves to like, just sit and be with ourselves, and create the space to allow our biggest ideas to come in our most creative ideas to come in. So that is the phase where I really recommend doing that. One just because of the that intuitiveness. But too, we are like literally losing blood, right? Like literally losing iron. And iron is a huge indicator into how we feel and the energy that we have. And so when we're losing all that blood losing all that iron, we're gonna feel drained, we're gonna feel like we need to take more space and recharge. And so that's what that phase is for. Then, as that oestrogen picks up, oh, I will highlight there too. It's really great to plan out your month. So maybe you're not necessarily taking action on it. But you're looking ahead, what's coming? Where do I want to go? What are my goals for this month? What's my intentions? How can I really organise my calendar so that I am performing at my best, all of those types of things. And then as that oestrogen starts to climb, that's when you start to take action. That's when you get things going. That's when you take some of those ideas that are broomy brewing and really get going on them and and make them happen. It's the eat the frog. I don't know if you've ever read that book, but by Brian Tracy. Yeah. So the idea of like, just get those things done. The harder things are the things, the challenging things, the things you want to put off, like just do it then because you're gonna have the most motivation, the most excitement the most. Like, okay, check the to do list, like let's crush these things during that phase. And then as you reach the top of that oestrogen peak is when ovulation is there. And ovulation is when our bodies are signalling to the world like mate with me make a baby. And so there's so many different things. I was actually just reading some studies that there was some study that actually showed that like the that women potentially have more like, what's word? Oh my gosh, my brain is like blood circulation. I'm like, where's my brain going? Blood circulation and so that their cheeks are actually a little bit pinker during the time of ovulation than other times of the month. Right? And all these subtle little things like there was one study that talked about how women's smell A little bit different during that phase and that like, they're not things that we're sitting there being like, wow, I smell different, or I look different, but we feel like that we feel more radiant, we feel more glowing, we feel like we show up better. It's the time when I if I'm recording a Facebook reel or something, I don't record it 10 times. I record it one like that it feels really good. versus

one shot only.

One cut done and you're like, Man, I look really good. Versus that luteal phase like you talked about. You're like, man, that sucked. I was like, What's that big shiny spot on my forehead, or what's the pimple in the side, like, there's just it's a whole different thing. So that is your face for lots of if you're doing videos, lots of face to face things, lots of networking, happy hours, date nights, engaging with your friends, like it's a very social interactive time. And so really leveraging and using that like relationship with other people in connection with other people during that phase. And then you enter into that oestrogen drops office in or like right after ovulation and progesterone picks up. And like you said progesterone is much more admin type of oriented tasks. If you've ever gone into your closet and been like, I'm going to clean and declutter my entire closet in one day, it is likely you were in this phase, because it can feel very productive. But it's a different type of productivity. It's I want to clean and sort and get things like nesting, right? Like I remember when I was pregnant at the end of pregnancy, you just get this urge to like, wash all the clothes and fold everything and like scrub the toilets and like get everything ready. And that's kind of the same element of what you're feeling in that late luteal phase as you get ready to then rest and recharge during that menstrual phase. So it's like it's really beautiful, how it's like orchestrated that way. But it does become a phase of getting things clipped, decluttered organised admin sort of dot your T's crossed, cross your eyes, it's also a very good, if you are in business and online business where you're writing, it's a very great phase for emotion, and like your emotions are heightened. So it's a great phase for writing. So like actually writing sales copy or emails or social media or those types of things, because you're going to be able to empathise with your your audience, and feel with their feelings so much more than any other time of the month. So it may not be the time you want to get on camera and be like, I feel you I understand because you're like in the thick of it. But writing it, you might notice like you write so much more juicy that phase than you would any other time of the month. So those are kind of like an overview of the four phases, and really how we kind of match them up with our productivity and our work.

I love all of that. I mean, it sounds very intuitive. It's definitely what I experienced, I guess what I would, my question would be is how do we modify that? So some women are in corporate jobs, they can't sort of optimise in that way. But also even like, within my own business, there's elements, for example, where I totally get what you're saying, like one cut and done. You know, there's times when you can do some video content, and it just goes super well, and you're just in full flow. And then other times, it's like, gosh, this just feels hot. Do you know what I mean? And you've got to do it. And I totally get that you could batch if you're an entrepreneur, you could kind of batch things in that way. But then there's also the reality of, you know, it's a little bit like with workouts, I don't think we could just strength train in the in the follicular phase. Because I think that that could impede results. How can we if we really want to deliver at the highest level across the whole menstrual cycle, so want to be with clients and be at our best or we're interfacing or in leadership roles and you know, deliver to the team? How can we still do that across the menstrual cycle?

Yeah, beautiful question. And I think the biggest thing is going to come back to that question or the idea at the beginning of just the awareness, right? Even if we're in a corporate setting and say we're giving a presentation, and we go into this board meeting presentation, and we're giving the presentation and we leave feeling like it wasn't our best. It wasn't we weren't not at our optimum. We weren't. Oftentimes what can happen is me begin the spiral of like, that wasn't good enough. What am I doing, I can't do this, and then we continue to go. And that that thought process that we have inside of our heads impacts the way we show up in the future, right? It changes our identity and it changes the the thought processes of everything and how we show up is all based in thought. And so when we can catch that and bring the awareness to okay, this was where I was at in this time of the month. This is just how I asked and like that's okay, right. That's one piece of it, is just bringing that awareness and saying like, let it go like I get If this is where I'm at, the other thing I talked to my clients about is that sometimes we're not going to be able to adapt our task. And so with our cycle, we can do our best. And we don't really have to make or like change everything in our lives to match with our cycle, it can be these little micro shifts, and micro changes. And I love that you brought up, you know, nutrition and exercise already. Because those two things are going to greatly impact how we feel right? When you get up in the morning and you do a hit workout. And you do that strength training, and you feel really good, it changes how you feel the rest of the day, right? Versus when you wake up, and you don't really get dressed, and you would just slap some makeup on and you walk out the door. It's like it's a very different energy and how you feel. And so we can look at what are we doing to support that phase? What are we doing even outside of work? Where are we helping to say like, Okay, this is the phase I'm in, I'm going to make sure that I get up early, and I'm going to do my workout and I'm going to take the cold shower, or I'm going to do any of the other things that we're going to do to help support that high level of energy. So that then you show up better. And then you give yourself maybe a little bit permission in those other phases to do it a little bit differently, right, and like adapt those tasks outside of work, not necessarily even in work. Because what you do outside of work is also going to impact how you show up at work, right? So if you're in that late luteal phase, and you decide, I'm gonna go out for happy hour after dinner, and I'm going to get some drinks, and I'm going to have fun with my friends and whatever, and you get home and you're like, I'm tired, I'm exhausted, that's going to impact the way you show up the next day. Right? It's not just in the work day, it's it's looking at like your entire life of how you're supporting and showing up for those hormones. So those are one piece, right? We can help support the energy outside of there. And then there's two is looking at the task, and how can we adapt tasks to help fit that. So for me, particularly, I still work in the hospital two days a week, I'm a neonatal therapist, so I go in and work with babies. And for me, I've noticed that not necessarily in the month, but even in my day, there was things that I could shift and change to help me be able to perform at my best. So one of those things was I noticed based on my circadian rhythm, right, so my daily rhythms, I actually perform way better in the morning than I do in the afternoon. Once I get to the afternoon, it's like snooze fest, like I just, I don't want to get up and do things, I don't want to go see patients anymore. And so what I was able to do was start working really hard in my morning, I was able to recalibrate within my day, to be able to see as many patients as I could in the morning, so that when I maybe took a later lunch so that when I got to that lunchtime time, I could then then after that sit at the computer and chart all of the treatments and all of the patients that I saw earlier in the morning, so it allowed me to kind of optimise within that. So kind of taking a look at what can you shift and change at work? Maybe it's not everything. But can you shift, even slight little things, can you, Nick, hey, you know what I actually perform better in the morning. So I'm going to put these priority tasks first thing in the morning and get those things done. That's going to allow me to have those little gap days throughout the day. Because we do like have, like we're talking all about the menstrual rhythm, right. But we do have circadian rhythms too, and how we operate within that day and how our oestrogen impacts us throughout the day, or testosterone. And like all those different things that impact us. We're not flatline. Like we're not a flatline throughout the day, we're not a flatline throughout the month, and so kind of looking at where those are. And what can you shift, I think is the bigger question. Because I think a lot of women, like you even said that when they're in corporate thinking, Well, how does this apply to me? I don't know what I can do with this. And instead, if we just shift that question to what can I use from this? What can I shift? How can I implement this? Like, where can I honour my body? In my business, or where my corporate job or in my family life or wherever I'm at is just kind of starting to ask that question of how do I honour my body in this space? Like how do I listen to it, instead of just totally trying to derail it to try to produce at a certain level.

I'm inviting you to join our newly opened high performance health Facebook group, where we're all about unlocking our utmost potential. If you are a fellow bio hacker, a coach or a woman with an entrepreneurial spirit, looking for peak performance, and our community of ambitious women is just for you. But it's not just about connecting with like minded women. It's about empowering each other. We have weekly live training Q and A's and a bunch of other exclusive content that I don't get the chance to share anywhere else. You buy a hack some extra lorring plus extra nuggets of wisdom from my podcast guests and so much more. It's free to join, simply click the top link in the show notes or go to Angela foster.me forward slash h P h. That's Angela foster.me forward slash HP H or click the top link in the show notes. And once inside, send me a message so we can connect personally, I can't wait to see you I love that. I mean what as you say what you do outside of massively affects it. And if you're in that late luteal phase and to be honest, or you feel like doing is roasting a chicken, and you're going out for drinks, like the work is enough to cope with, right so maybe you just need to give yourself a bit of relaxation time at home. And that will then amplify your performance at work during that phase. I love that a super practical. You also mentioned there a little bit around hormones, oestrogen testosterone, how they interact with circadian rhythm. What are your thoughts around there? No. Obviously, from a circadian perspective, we have some people who are early morning types. And you've identified for example, like doing things in the morning is really super helpful for you. For a night owl that might be different. But what's the interplay of oestrogen and testosterone with that kind of cortisol and melatonin rhythm and cycle? Yeah.

So from the research that I've seen men operate with testosterone, it generally starts relatively high in the morning and has an up and down sort of rhythm throughout the day. So it kind of functions in that same rhythm as with the circadian rhythm of every, like 90 ish minutes, it has a dip and then kind of comes back, but it's a gradual decline over the course of the day. So they get to the end of the day, they go to sleep, they wake up the next morning with a fresh dose of testosterone. And so then it kind of repeats itself. It's why I joke the fact that like, when when I was younger, and I had young kids at home, my husband would I'd like literally would be like on the clock, like, why is he not home? It's five o'clock, I need my husband home. I've been home with the kids all day, I'm losing my mind. And now is

the witching hour. I've got young children, I want this so well.

I'm like, where is he? He's not here. And if he, if we learned if he needed to be any bit late, like five minutes late, 10 minutes late, he had to text me and let me know because otherwise I was losing my bloody mind with the kids at home. But he would get home, you know, and he'd go to the toilet, and he'd sit in the toilet for an hour on his phone. And I'm like, What the? I need you like what is going on? And I was talking with a couple of girlfriends and they're like, my husband comes home and he he parks in the car in the driveway and he sits in the driveway for 20 minutes before he comes in like what the heck. And that was when I really learned about this like testosterone dip like, right like they're getting to the end of the day. And they're they're their energy source is depleted. Like there's not much there. I mean the relatively and then you're expecting them to come in and put on a whole fresh new like let's do tackle kids night you know, your your as a Magne as a mom was like here, you take them, but I'm giving them to him at his lowest energy point of the day. And so it was his little need for recharge, like he needed the booster, some stuff up to get back in and deal with the kids for the night. And I've read some studies that oestrogen kind of operates in the same way for women. So we have even throughout the month we all we have oestrogen the whole month, right? It's not just in that one phase. We have oestrogen the whole month but oestrogen follows a very similar pattern is that testosterone. So even when we're in that luteal phase and progesterone is more dominant. We have that same element of oestrogen writing kind of a 90 minute pattern that starts relatively high in the morning and kind of waxes as the day goes on. And so that helps us kind of have that feel to so those are I don't know if that kind of answered. But that's kind of, I think that where we look at like oestrogen, progesterone or testosterone kind of starting higher in the morning and kind of waxing as the day goes on kind of helps contribute to that rhythm throughout the day.

Are you saying that oestrogen is following that same rhythm throughout the day? That's what I've seen? Yeah. Interesting. So actually, that would lend itself then the sort of concept of working in 90 minute blocks. I mean, it's very interesting, actually. Because when you look at sleep, a sleep cycle is 90 minutes. And I do very much feel like we mirror that during the day.

100% No, I agree. I think that like when we look at when we look at our lives, and we look at the patterns that we have, I think if we were to start to really look at all of the patterns that we have, we have probably far more than we really pay attention to. So we have the sleep cycle. I don't think that it's only when we sleep we sleep right? It's throughout the day as well. We have these moments of I feel really great and I'm producing and then we need to take a break and go walk around the office. We need to go get a drink of water. We need to go to the toilet, right? Like we need to move and change up the scene a little bit. So we have these rhythms throughout the day. We have the rhythms through the month with our menstrual cycle. We even have seasonal rhythms, right, your summer is going to feel very different than your winter time. For me when the kids are out during the summer, I'm working less I'm trying to spend more time having fun with them. In the wintertime, it's the holidays, I want to be around the kids and hang out with the holidays versus spring and fall are my two heavy workday. Seasons, right? Like I work much harder in those seasons one because they're at school. And two, because it follows kind of that same rhythm of like spring bloom and like get things up off the ground, and then the fall harvest and like reaping kind of the work that you've put in. So it has those rhythms. Even a few years ago, Facebook memories. I was like sitting there and I was like, Wow, this day, for the last five years, I've posted something on Facebook about being sick today. I've been sick the same week. And so I started paying attention. There was three leaks. There's a week like in early January. And then one verite between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And or No, right. But I read it right around Thanksgiving. And so I was like, Oh, is this like habit? Or is this just rhythms is this routines, and I started to notice, I think it's the Halloween, the Halloween candy, right? When I'm eating a tonne of candy right out of Halloween, my immune system dips, because of all the sugar and that I'm eating. And so then I started eating

right. That's the thing when you eat sugar, it does lower your immune system.

Exactly. So what I didn't notice was like, Okay, if I stop eating sugar, so much sugar right there at Halloween, will I get sick a couple of weeks later. And so just kind of paying attention to like all of those those, we have so many more rhythms and so many different things that are happening in our world, that we're not even really kind of paying attention to, you know, they even the stock market, there's like a seven year thing. And the economies are like usually in a seven year run like we have we are such rhythm making people and beings like our world is so rhythmical, so kind of just paying attention to those rhythms.

It's an interesting observation, actually the seven years as well with the economy, because it's also something I don't know if you've seen that is replicated in business quite often, with a company sort of a new company starting out is Samsung seems to kind of hit that upward trend where it's just a bit more plain sailing and quicker growth around that sort of seven years. It's really interesting. Cycle. Yeah,

yeah. And so I think when we look at like Mother Nature, I was having a conversation the other day about, I mean, we as a society, and as a world that whole have asked Mother Nature to produce all the time, right? There's this whole movement around regenerative kind of farming and things like that, because we're we're trying to produce fruits and vegetables, and food and all these things all year long. When we look back years and years ago, it was very much produced on seasons, you bought what was available in that season, you didn't you know, you kind of canned up your peaches in your fruits and stuff like that, so that you had them all year, but they weren't readily available fresh all year long. But now we are moving towards that space of like really demanding that Earth produce all the time. And I think this is all philosophical and theoretical, but I kind of think like we are asking Earth to produce and that that's probably why we're depleting the soils, we're depleting Earth and things are not like our earth is not as nutrient dense as it once was. And how I think a big part of that is because we're forcing it to produce all the time. And when we look at us as human beings, how that's the same way, like when we are forcing ourselves to produce all the time, we're depleting what we're capable of, and we're depleting our energy sources and our you know, nutrient denseness if we were to kind of use the same word, but how we were made like our Earth and our world is really made to operate in cycles.

definate f&e, that rest recovery cycle, I find is so so important. rambles, and otherwise you can't access that creativity. So with your, with your clients, how do you have them sort of structure their day or maybe yourself you can give insights into what you're doing around kind of optimising your output and everything that you do. Like, is there a specific window or time of the month or day that you've identified is great like you were talking about writing articles, for example, filming videos for great for creative work, versus other things? How what is yours? Like in terms of structure? Yeah.

So I think the number one thing is like tracking your cycle. I've actually learned there's a lot of women that are not tracking their cycle. They maybe have a vague understanding of where it's at and when it's coming but not actually track Getting it. So there's not just your period but tracking ovulation. So tracking both of those two markers, because if you're not ovulating one, I think it's really great for you to be have that insight and awareness, because then that allows you to be a better advocate for your health. I mean, all the way around, right? I've had some health stuff happening this last couple of years. And for me to be able to go to my doctor and say like, this is when I'm ovulating. This is when my period is this is what my blood pressure is that like this is when I'm sleeping like and I'm sure a lot of the stuff you talk about to like, the more that we're aware of all of these things about what's happening inside of our bodies, makes us a better advocate. When we go to our doctors when we say something's not working, right, here's all my data. Here's all the information about what's happening. And so I think one law allows us to be a better advocate, but we should be ovulating. So if you are in that phase of life, when you are having periods, regular periods and not entering perimenopause or menopause, you should be ovulating. And so if you're not, that's also a really good indicator. A lot of women aren't even aware whether or not they're ovulating or not. So paying attention to those two things, tracking those, I think would be number one. And then number two, I always it's omit it has its own Google Calendar. So I track it in its own little app, right? Like I use Apple and or my my watch and stuff like that to track my cycle and things. But then I put it into my Google calendar. So that when I am going to schedule a podcast, or I'm going to schedule an interview, or I'm going to schedule a presentation or any of that type of thing, it is right there on my calendar. So I know is this a time of the month when I want to schedule this is this a time of the month when I don't. And I actually have that luteal phase and my menstrual phase, in my calendars. It's both blocked as busy. So if somebody else tries to book on my calendar, it won't be available. It only will allow them to man like automatically book in those two phases of my oestrogen dominant phase in that follicular phase and the ovulation phase when I know I'm going to be at my best. And then the other two Phases are phases that I book manually. So if I know I need to get something in, and I want to book a podcast or an interview or something, I can do that. But I also take a look and stock at the whole rest of the day. What else is happening in this day? Am I going to have the energy for this? Do I need to cancel a happy hour? Do I need to make sure that I take a bubble bath the night before? Do I need to make sure the what do I need to do to make sure that I have the energy and I'm going to show up at my optimum in that space. Because I want to operate at my best Right? Like we all want to show up as our best. And so we got to take a look at like what are the things that are going to help me support that and like get to that place. So I think having it forefront in my calendar is the number one thing I've had clients tell me the same thing they went in and blocked, they put it marked those two weeks as busy in their calendar. And so they've they've noticed that that's a huge game changer for them to be able to like I have control over these two weeks, if I need to go lighter this week, I can and so that that Alavi LaTorre phase, when you are operating at your best and you're feeling your best, you may be able to do podcast interviews, or trainings or webinars or whatever you're doing from eight o'clock in the morning till seven o'clock at night and feel great, and maybe you know, still feeling a little exhausted. That's a long day. But like you could feel great and feel like you could get it done. And I had one week where I did that. And then the next Monday, it was a Monday the next Monday, there was only two things on my calendar. And I can tell you the way I woke up that morning was like, I don't want to do anything today. And I was so grateful that when I came to my calendar, there was only two things on my calendar that day. And then the rest of the day was more of that admin behind the scenes stuff. So it's kind of looking at like Where can you push harder and and stack your days, when you're feeling really great. And you're feeling really wonderful. That's going to allow you to have that rest and recovery in that other phases when you don't have that energy. And so kind of just making sure one that it's like front and centre on your calendar. I've had friends that will message me they're like, Hey, do you want to go out for you know, like, such and such, like, have fun, like, go out to dinner or whatever. And I look at my calendar and I'm like, ooh, that's gonna be in my luteal phase. Like, do I really, really want to do that like as an introvert in my luteal phase, like that is a hard access for me. And so I'm like, Hmm, can we reschedule it? Can we do it like a week or two later? Just to make sure that like even those little small micro things that you're scheduling and putting into your day are kind of aligning with where you feel good and knowing Can I just clarify

so that is your you're putting these in between in and around ovulation right. So a week either side is that when you're saying so many As duration you're trying to keep for more sort of recovery and getting all that creativity and that that stuff sort of flowing. So then those two weeks in the middle, and then you're kind of lessening off towards the end as well. Is that correct? I just want to make sure I have it right.

Yeah. So that the your menstrual phase is a recovery time and then your luteal phase or your recovery, kind of like recovery times

late recovery. Yeah. luteal rather than just post ovulation. So a week either side of ovulation is kind of your pride.

Yeah, so yeah. So I mean, generally, if you have a 28 day cycle, I generally just break them out into seven day phases. Makes it easy. Like if you're trying to get pregnant, you need to know more exact like where things are happening, but just for productivity purposes. Yeah, a week at a time. So I'll say like a week for ovulation a week for that accelerate kind of follicular energy a week for ovulation. And it usually is on a little bit on both sides, and then a week for that luteal phase. But I think a big part of it is just learning to listen to your body, right? I have clients who have a dip right around that ovulation phase where they get some of that luteal phase feeling like where they're super moody, and they're irritable. And they don't want to be around anybody right around the time of ovulation. And then it recovers and kind of comes back. And some people notice that as soon as they ovulate, their energy dips. And then like more of that ovulate patient phase energy is ahead of time. So I think the big thing is, is yes, you can take what I've said and take like a seven day kind of just real basic overview structure. And then it becomes listening to you and listening to your body and like what does your body do? And what does your rhythm look like? And are do you notice, like, oh, I want my periods only three days, and then I hit the ground running? And I'm great. And I feel really great. Or are you one of those people that it's a little bit longer and a little bit sluggish. And like there's things we can do. It's kind of out of my scope. But I had no practitioners who will help kind of normalise the period rhythm. Because I think a lot of women have really periods that are what they think are normal, probably not necessarily normal. And so there's things you can do to help support that hormone rhythm. But if it so anyway, but yes, it is about listening and learning to your body. But yeah, like you said, kind of I generally recommend that there's like a couple days at the beginning of or like after ovulation a couple days before ovulation is kind of that face. And then the I guess

my question here would be a sort of a balance, right? Because it's a little bit like I have this internal battle over. Not not really a battle as such. But I'm always trying to prioritise my morning because I am super productive in the morning, much more creative very much an early morning person. And so what I ended up doing is you've got to allocate, well, what can I best do that, right? Because if you were doing something creative, that is by far and away the best time for me to do it, if I was going to be doing something that was, you know, like deep work, for example, that will be the best time if I'm going to work out that, for me is the best time. And I think what you're describing here also sounds like this would then be there sort of two weeks at the month, that is also the best time for high productivity for doing podcasts for filming reels for going in delivering presentations for interacting with clients or group programme members. But then, what how? I guess it would be like how do you design then around that? Because there's so much to pack in during that period? What's the best use of that time if that makes sense? Yeah.

No, I think it is a you are correct. Like sometimes people are like the question they asked me is like, well, I can't take two weeks off every month, right? Like I can't do nothing. And I think it really one redefining what productivity looks like. And really restructuring because there are a lot of other things that I do I actually love that reflect like luteal phase. But that is actually become one of my favourite phases. It used to be the phase that I like, went into like hating because it was so moody and irritable. I can remember one time getting so angry at my husband, I threw a shoe at him. And he stood there in the hallway been like, are you? Are you serious? You just threw a shoe at me and was like, Yeah, I'm so angry. But inside, I didn't know why. Right. And so for a long time, I really didn't like that phase. Now I see that phase is one of the most powerful phases one because all of those limiting beliefs and fears and doubts come to the surface. And when we release those, like, especially in business, that's what enables us to go further and to do more, right when we're stuck in our own fear. And we're stuck in our own beliefs about what's possible for us. We're going to stay stuck at a certain level, whether it even incorporate, right like when we're stuck at a certain level, and oftentimes based around the thoughts and the feelings and the beliefs that we have. So when we can uncover those and release them we actually allow ourselves to uplevel every single month. And so when we look at that we look at that luteal phase becomes a really great time for processing and releasing things that were no longer serving us. So we can look at the whole rest of the month and say, what are those big priorities? What are those big things that I really need to get done? What are those things that are really making the biggest mover in my business? And I think sometimes when we're stuck in the going and the doing and the accomplishing all the time, we forget to do that. We forget to take a look and look back at like, what are the numbers? What are the numbers teaching me? What are what's actually happening? Where do I need to shift? What do I need to let go of where have I just been shoving so much stuff in that I maybe don't even need to do? So for instance, like me, I've been looking at my business and saying like, Okay, I've right now there's more things on my plate than I have capacity for. I'm doing I'm coaching my kids soccer, still working a couple of days in the NICU. I'm running my business, I've got my podcast, I've got my team, like everything that I have going on right now. I'm like, there's too much going on. I don't have the capacity. So in this luteal phase, that's my time to sit and coal and clean out what is no longer serving me? What needs to let go of what do I need to shift? What do I need to automate? What do I need to delegate? What do I need to just totally get rid of, and so having that space and time, while in our more masculine sort of business space, it doesn't always be it's not always seen as productive, it really is like that is setting you up so that when you get into those peak performance zones, you actually have the bandwidth to actually get them done. And I oftentimes refer to it kind of like a slingshot. So my son, he and my, my nephew, my dad, we were all camping together, and we're in this RV park, like million dollar motorhomes like, I'm sure that like one of the windshields probably cost like 10 or $15,000 for these ginormous windshields, and my dad brings my son and my nephew were like eight at the time, slingshots. And so they're putting these little rocks in their slingshot and kind of pulling it back a little bit, you know, and like watching the rock kind of fall just a few feet in front of them. And then they started realising that the more that they pulled that that Slingshot is harder that they pull back on that rubber band, the farther the rock flies. And at one point, I was like, Dad, you've got to take them somewhere else, they're gonna, like bust out a windshield, and I'm going to be stuck paying $15,000 for a windshield. Because these things shots, right. And our bodies are kind of the same way. So when we look at that cycle, and we look at that interface, the the luteal phase and the menstrual phase when our body is pulling back, when we're being called to pull slow down. What that is, is like the slingshot, that's the rubberband being pulled back. And that sometimes even the further that we pull it back, the farther it's going to shoot, the farther that we're going to go. And so when we look at those two phases, and think, Okay, well, they're not super productive, I'm not doing I'm not going I'm not being as creative. I'm not publishing, I'm not tackling all these big things. What it really comes from is that pullback you had, so where did you allow yourself that time and space to actually pull back and clean and coal in sort and let go and release and plan and organise so that you're prepared and really ready to be the most optimised when you hit those two phases? Did that kind of answer? Well,

it makes total sense. Yeah, completely. It's a very similar analogy with exercise, right? Because everything that you do you provide the stress and a similar stimulus in the workout itself. But actually, the adaptation is really made in recovery. You can't gain muscle, for example, unless you're recovering. I totally get that and I love that, that story at all, because I think it really helps people visualise the benefits of it. One last question before you know you've been generous with your time we spoke you and I offline for women lists before the show a women listening who no longer have a menstrual cycle. Maybe Maybe they're taking birth control. Maybe they are. You know, in the late stages of perimenopause, that post menopause. You mentioned around cycling around the moon and still being able to embrace those rhythms. Can you share what that might look? Yeah,

yeah. So I think one whether or not you have an irregular cycle, birth control, pregnancy, postpartum or a postpartum, perimenopause, menopause, any of those types of things. You might be wondering whether or not this actually works for you. And kind of going back to the same conversation around there are so many rhythms and so many cycles in our world. So I am an Occupational Therapist, that's like that's my background by trade. And so a lot of it is around habits and rhythms and these routines that we have and how we help our body. Really learn and kind of adapt to that. So, one, we are rhythm making jeans and R are our habit making machines Right? Like that's just the way we are like how neurons and our basic brain chemistry works. And the world operates in such a cycles. And so we have these two very differing but yet similar like the they go together sorts of things is like the sun and the moon, right. So the sun operates in a 24 hour rhythm, which is very similar to how men operate in that testosterone rhythm. And then the moon operates in a 28 day rhythm, just like the average menstrual cycles 28 Day rhythm. I don't think it's coincidental. I think it's very uniquely designed that we have these two opposing forces, but yet they we need them both right. So as women, if if you do not have a hormone cycle that is operating, kind of optimising your productivity, I have found for most of my clients that syncing up with the moon in that 28 Day rhythm begins to start to feel that same way. And so it's kind of like working out or getting up early, or anything that you might do at first, the habit might feel like you're having to put a lot of effort into it, it doesn't feel like it's there. Right when I was trying to get up early. For a while, I was like, gosh, I'm a 7am Waker. I love waking up at 7am. And so when I wanted to start getting up and doing some stuff before my kids wake up in the morning, and I was like setting my alarm for 530 The first few weeks, I was hitting snooze, and not actually getting up at a bed, I would hit snooze for an hour before I would get up right. And so I'm like snooze, snooze, and then over time, I'm like, okay, I can start getting up, I'm gonna start getting up. And then a couple months down the road, your body just learns. And it's reset that whole new circadian rhythm, and it gets up and you're ready to go, right? You're you're feeling wide awake, I'm ready. This is my new normal waking time. So it's kind of the same thing when we look at using the moon for your cycle and your productivity is that at first, it may not feel like this just makes sense. This doesn't necessarily feel like it's working, this doesn't. But over time, it will start to feel that way. And as women we operate best in that 28 Day rhythm we operate best when we're in that monthly kind of flow, rather than than that 24 hour sort of space. So that would be my encouragement would be to look at the moon, you use the new moon, which is like no moon, right? It's black. It's there's no moon up there. That would be your menstrual phase. And then the bright shining moon is your your ovulation phase. And I had one client tell me she's like, this makes total sense. Like anthropologically back in the day. If you were trying to meet with somebody, you'd probably want to be able to see where they were at night. And so like the moon when there was no light, artificial light, like in the big bright moon. She's like you have all these naked people out there making babies under the moonlight. And I was like, Oh my gosh, but it makes total sense. Right? So now now that I tell that because people always got confused. So now on ice to share that story, the bright shiny Moon he'll never forget making babies under the moonlight. And then the the New Moon is that like pullback, dark kind of recluse, like recharge sort of space and time. And so I would highly encourage you to just try it out and test it out. Like what would it look like if I continue in this rhythm? If I continue to operate more in this 28 Day rhythm? How does that make me feel over time? Do I feel better? And if not, then by all means, do what works for you. I'm like, I am a huge advocate 100% What I teach my my clients is how do you listen to your body? How do you start to trust what your body is telling you and start listening to that. So I have clients that take my phases, and they kind of adapt and they shift and they change them based on what their body's telling them. And I think that is what I ultimately want. I don't want anybody walking away from this interview or anything they've learned from me to feel like they now have this next structure and this rigid system that they then have to implement on their bodies. It's really helping women just come back to listening to what their body's telling them and where they're at. So use that kind of lean into it and see how it feels. And if it doesn't work, then shift it. Yeah,

I love that. And that is our feminine superpower. Is it not the intuition? Yeah. Now I'm going to share something because before you go because it was really interesting. I think we asked you the kind of pre podcast questions that you had what your favourite book costs, and it just so happens. That is also one of my favourite books the happy pocket full of money. Yes. Which I just thought I'd share because for anyone listening if you really want to kind of, I guess get in touch with your spiritual side and really kind of manifest your dreams into reality. That book is for me about so much more than money. It's not really about money as it is about creation and abundance and self expression. I don't know what your feelings are, but that's certainly where it felt I felt like for me I think it's a great book.

Yeah

I would say it's definitely a book I go back to often it's a you know, like even or even if I don't read like the whole book from front to cover, pick up a pick it up for a while and I'll read a chapter or two and just one it throughout the book has like I think it's I am Joy. I'm abundant. Like there's some phrase in there that it repeats like almost every other day

is it I am love I am Joy, I am abundance or something,

something, something along that lines, and it's like every other paragraph that it's in there. And even just reading that over and over and over again, it's like helping kind of reprogram those, those ways of thinking of like, I am Joy I am, you know, love I am abundant, and how much that makes such a huge difference for us when our brains and our habits are like in that state versus not. But for me, I think it was it was just like it was such a game changer. There's a whole lot about like quantum physics and the first couple of chapters, that I was kind of like, okay, this is a little over my head in the quantum physics world. But then as the book goes on, it is about really just putting yourself into a state to one dream and be able to dream, the biggest life that you have and manifest that biggest life and how do you find joy, and love and abundance in every thing in your life? Right, like my, I've, my husband had a brain tumour, like that's how I got started on this journey. And I've he still has seizures and like all of these things. And that even in those moments, like I remember sitting in the in the hospital waiting for him to come out of surgery thinking, this is going to be just a part of my story someday, like I don't know what it's gonna look like, I don't know where it's going to be. This is a part of our story. And to kind of have that sort of energy and that sort of feel towards life, I think is very much kind of what that book is about, of like, how do I just fully own and love life right now even I forgot the one thing about my husband's reading the power of now. And I was like, Oh, I read that book, like couple years ago when we were in Hawaii. Like he had no idea. And I was like, I read that one a couple. And he's like, Yeah, I can see it's a little spiritual woowoo like you would like. But that's, that's another great one to have just like how do we fully both of those two? How do we fully love life right now? How do we see ourselves as fully abundant? Like, how do we stay in the present now, which I think is another very feminine thing, right? How are we that feminine essence of like, how do we live fully in the now? How do we fully be abundant in the now and bring that joy and love right now? So yeah,

I agree. Yeah, I think if we can create from the future, but be present in this moment, you're gonna have a magical elixir. Yeah. Thank you for everything you shared today. It's been amazing to have you on the show. Where can people find out more about you and your work?

Yeah, so I have the cyclo advantage podcast, which would be a great place to hang out. And also I love Instagram is probably my favourite place like social media place online. So that would be the other place and there it is just my first and last name, Rene Fick over there, those would probably be the two greatest places to come find me and hang out. If you are not tracking your cycle and you want a cycle tracker, let me know send me a DM over on Instagram, I can send that over to you and I'll be happy to send that over and you can get started. They're

amazing. We will link to all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Thank you so much.

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