Natural Rhythms

Are you in season?

The tech company Basecamp structures its work in six-week cycles.

Critically, between cycles, they take 2 weeks to "roam independently, fix up something, pick up a pet project, reflect, and generally wind down prior to starting their next six-week cycle."

Basecamp's approach isn't about a tech company creating a fad or trying to adopt the latest bio hacking or workflow optimization technique. It's simply about acknowledging the reality of seasons and cycles, and adopting rhythms that work with, not against, seasons.

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

-Lao Tzu

You’ve likely come across this quote before. It’s one of those that gets passed around on social media and even printed on chocolate or tea packages.

For good reason. Anytime I encounter this quote it never ceases to stop me in my tracks and bring about some level of conviction.

“Nature doesn’t hurry.”

I’m always in a hurry.

“Yet everything gets accomplished.”

How often do I feel accomplished?

Teacher, author, and social advocate Parker Palmer has described the modern pace of life as “violent."

As coaches who work with high-achieving leaders, this resonates.

In a coaching session, it’s not uncommon for a leader to say they are feeling "crushed", "spread thin", or "pulled in a million directions."

These phrases evoke imagery of leaders feeling trapped in trash compactors, or having their limbs yanked putting tension on their ligaments and tendons.

It’s not gentle language. And, it reflects that often our lives don’t feel gentle.

Metaphors are rich. They are our brain's way of putting language to our experience. They bypass our overly developed cognitive filters that say "I'm fine" when really we feel that everything is burning around us.

There are many reasons we feel this way. Attempting to assign blame to one thing would be inaccurate and disingenuous.

Still, one of the main reasons we feel this way lies in our attempts to dismiss or ignore the reality of seasons.

We want to believe, or at least our environment reinforces, that everything should be in a perpetual state of growth.

• “Up and to the right”

• “Every quarter more profitable than the last”

• “Better than we were yesterday”

These ideologies, while often well-intentioned, fail to reflect the reality of the human experience.

Specifically, they ignore the reality of seasons & the necessity of rhythms.

There are 12 months and 52 weeks in a year. 7 Days in a week. 24 hours in a day. 60 minutes in an hour. 60 seconds in a minute.

There are 4 seasons: Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall.

Each season is unique. In its climate, its characteristics, the vegetation it produces, the gifts it brings, the activities it allows, and the memories it affords.

To ignore the reality of seasons is to be in opposition to nature itself.

Both nature "out there"- the weather, the amount of sunlight, the school calendar, but also nature "in here" - your physical needs, the wants and desires of your heart, and the capacity of your mind.

Practically speaking, at Grovity, this summer has been quiet, with fewer client meetings and engagements as the organizations and leaders we partner with navigate summer holidays and juggle sporadic family schedules while kids are out of school.

In full transparency, this can feel frustrating. We are conditioned to be "all gas, no brake," while everything around us seems to say:

Slow Down. Rest. Play. Create.

We've been slow to adjust, trying to maintain our pace of work and client meetings from the Spring months.

But, the truth is, the fall calendar will necessitate all gas, no brakes.

So for now, in this summer season when the phone is silent, the email inbox is sparse, and the calendar is lighter than usual, we've been given a gift.

To slow down. To rest. To play. To create.

To take our kids on sno-cone and ice cream dates. To coach Little League. To grab breakfast or coffee with a friend we haven't seen in a while.

To go on walks. To read. To sit in silence.

There is wisdom in recognizing and living in accord with rhythms. And it isn't the wisdom of a fashionable tech company - it's the wisdom of nature itself.

Self-Coach

• Orient: What season am I in?

  • Is it a season of beginnings or endings?

  • Is it a season of planting or harvesting?

  • Is it a season of drafting, writing, or editing?

• Become Aware: What awareness do you have about your rhythms?

  • Are you in accord or discord?

  • Are you trying to produce fruit that is in or out of season?

  • Do you need sunblock, rain boots, or a thick coat?

• Choose. How would you like to begin aligning your internal rhythms to the external realities?

  • What’s exciting about this?

  • What does this make possible?

• Act: What are you excited to try next?

  • By when?

  • Who will you tell?