CAREERTIPS : The seasons of our lives

Sigi Naidoo shares his HARDHAT CAREERTIPS on dealing with our daily emotional roller coaster.

From nature we learn that there are four seasons in the year. Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Could it be that our daily, weekly and yearly lives follow a similar pattern? Are there times that we feel the blues of winter, the warmth of summer and the blossoms of spring? Do we sometimes feel our energies dwindling and disappearing like the onset of autumn leading into winter?

Yes, to all the questions says this author. Our seasonal lives mirror that of the four seasons in nature! The four seasons appear over our entire life span, filtered down into daily, weekly, yearly and so on. Recognising and finding the pattern that flows through the ebb and flow of our daily lives is one of the many keys to unlocking the secret to experiencing a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Our coping mechanisms can be strengthened if only we knew how this pattern appears and works. Getting through the day or week is suddenly easier now that I am scheduling, prioritising and implementing most of my activities according to the seasons in my life.

Brainwashed

We have been brainwashed, conditioned, browbeaten, coerced – call it what you like – to dive in headlong into our action items. Start now and just work through it so that it can get done quickly, maybe on time – but, at what expense. In the process my energy is depleted, the quality is poor and deadline missed. And “I feel so terrible”, “don’t like my work anymore”, “hate my job”, “every day is a blue day” are just some of the emotional roller coaster rides experienced by highly intelligent and very successful people. 

STOP! and just think about a few minor examples. For this exercise lets first, just for a moment, set aside the fact that our daily time schedule dictates when we do things. For now, put aside that our lives are run by the schedules of others, putting our feelings and emotions in a constant wretched tangle. Some of us study well early in the morning, others late at night.

The same applies to exercise. "I am a morning person” or “I only really wake up at noon” are the discoveries we make about our- selves. Our energies dip in the afternoon and we are bushed when we get home. The reverse applies to others who work at their best in the afternoon and come home energized and ready to climb into any sort of activity.

Super Energized

My summer is when I am super energized and feeling on top of the world. Doing the most difficult of tasks during this period. The ones that required lots of energy and concentration. My summer is from 4am to 8am and here I work through the taxing and energy sapping reading and writing of re-ports, industry papers, text books, studying, etc. The heavy and de-manding actions that tap into my deep and serious mental space.

Spring follows later in the morning to around 1pm, allowing me to comfortably go through the chal-lenging meetings and discussions of the day. The lighter interactions, meetings and discussions follow through autumn which occurs from around 1pm to 8pm.

My exercise (gym, run, swim) rou-tine also falls into autumn as it re-quires very little effort to begin the exercises and once the endor-phins flows, one feels better. Late Autumn/early Winter energy is reserved for family time, reading fiction, supper, drinks, tv, etc. The leisurely activities requiring even less energy and concentration are reserved for the winter periods.

On a weekly basis, from a work point of view, it’s no surprise that Monday is without doubt my winter and Monday night is my best and longest sleep night of the week, leaving Tuesday, Wednes-day and Thursday to be summer and spring. Autumn/winter kicks in from Thursday afternoon to Friday. Again, where possible, my activities are planned and imple-mented keeping my daily and weekly seasons in mind.

The False Belief

True, it’s easier said than done. Especially because the world we live in dictates what we do and when we do it. And so often the dictated timing goes against the grain of “my seasons''. The false belief is that we have little choice – not so says this author.

Senior and middle managers re-ceive instructions and requests with time deadlines all the time. In most cases as senior and middle managers we can chose when we want to do the physical work and execute the requests.

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Accepting that in a day or week or a month there will be times when I am feeling good, not so good, sometimes tired and sometimes downright miserable, try to syn-chronise the request/instruction/work/personal actions with the sea-sons in your life and a semblance of balance returns.

What to do?

Don’t know how to find your daily or weekly seasons? Let’s start with a simple suggestion.

Going forward take note of and keep a journal of how your day pans out. Be observant how you feel when you wake up. Ask if you are a morning person or not. Are you tired or energised at certain times of the day?

Jot down these discoveries.

Within a few days, you will see a pattern emerge. Continue refining your observations and discoveries, and I guarantee that within three weeks you will have a good idea of your seasons and the benefits of synchronising should begin to flow.

Just know that all seasons will come to an end and that summer will come after winter. That it is ok to experience different levels of energy in a day and that moods and feelings will at times look like a roller coaster.

That’s the seasons in your life com-ing into play. Find them, discover them, play along with them and synchronise to achieve some level of balance. Less energy will be consumed and wasted and the emotional up and downs will be-come bearable.

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