Riding the Waves: How to Embrace Productivity Cycles?

Welcome back to So Glad You Asked! This week, I'm Jean Madison, your Gallup Global Strengths Coach and founder of Whole Human Co, diving into the essential topic of productivity and creativity cycles. After navigating a personal "slow period" in May, I'm sharing candid insights on how to accept, lean into, and understand these natural ebbs and flows in your work and life. Discover how building self-trust is key to navigating the highs and lows, celebrating imperfect progress, and recognizing what truly works for you.

Key Talking Points:

• Understanding Productivity & Creativity Cycles: Why recognizing your natural rhythms is crucial for sustainable work.
• My Recent Experience with a "Slow Period": A transparent look at navigating a dip in energy and motivation after a highly productive Q1.
• The Power of Self-Trust: Learning to trust that highs won't last forever, and lows will always pass.
• Challenging Instant Gratification: Moving beyond the "all or nothing" mindset to appreciate gradual progress, like a garden growing.
• Navigating Self-Doubt: Acknowledging the internal voice that questions success when things slow down.
• Embracing Imperfection: Why showing up authentically, even when not at your peak, is vital for growth and impact.
• Key Practices for Trusting Your Cycles:
  • Observe: Journaling and reflecting on past highs and lows to identify patterns without judgment.
  • Focus on What Works: Identifying specific actions and environments that genuinely bring energy and connection, even during low periods.
  • Use Reminders & Mantras: Powerful phrases to reinforce the cyclical nature of energy and remind yourself that challenges are temporary.
• Relevance for Everyone: Whether you're an entrepreneur, a 9-5 professional, or simply navigating life, these insights apply to managing your energy and expectations.

Mentioned in this Episode:

• My previous Goal Update episode (Episode 12 & 13)
• Human Work's Groundwork Program - Learn more here 

Actionable Takeaways:

• Start observing your own energy cycles without judgment. When are you high? When are you low?
• Identify actions that truly support and energize you during different phases of your cycle.
• Develop personal reminders and mantras to reinforce self-trust during both highs and lows.

Connect with Me:

• Have questions about self-trust, productivity, or cycles? Comment on this episode or email me directly (link in show notes) – I'd love to discuss your questions in a future episode!

Jean Madison Offers Complimentary Discovery calls - If you're curious to learn more about 1:1 coaching, Strengths, Team Work, Leadership Development or Hiring and Onboarding Consulting, click here to schedule your conversation and get started on the road to Whole Human Change.

Find me on Instagram: @JeanMadison_

Explore intentional career, life, & relationship coaching or organizational & team development Here

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Episode Introduction
• 4:07 May's Productivity Slowdown
• 10:28 Understanding Creativity Cycles
• 18:12 Self-Trust Through Low Periods
• 24:52 Three Ways to Trust Your Cycles
• 28:52 Closing Thoughts and Call to Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome back to so Glad you Asked, a podcast where we have conversations on career leadership and living an intentional life, and conversations with me, jean Madison, certified Gallup Global Strengths Coach and founder of Whole Human Co. Where I'm focused on intentional career life and relationship coaching, as well as organizational and team development and well-being. Join me as I answer questions I'm asked by my clients and audience, as well as personal experiences and growth opportunities that I feel we could all learn from. If you have a question or topic suggestion you'd love to hear discussed here on the podcast, visit my Instagram at JeanMadison underscore, comment your questions here on the podcast or tap the link in the show notes that says send questions here to email me directly. Now let's dive into today's episode. Hi everyone, welcome back to this episode of so Glad you Asked. Today we're going to be talking all about riding the waves of productivity and creativity, this idea of or not idea of but this reality of cycles and how we can accept them and lean into them and understand them, and all of that fun stuff. So part of the reason that we're diving into this conversation today is, if you hadn't noticed, I took a little break from recording so glad you asked episodes and you probably didn't notice because I didn't share about it, and that's okay.

Speaker 1: 1:20

But the month of May was really a kind of slow, low, maybe even down part of a productivity and creativity cycle for me. January, february, march and even April felt very energized and very creative and lots of ideas, lots of executing, which for me not a lot of executing strengths, you know is a big deal, and I do feel like this happens every year in May for me. I think normally in May, though, we're traveling or there's something going on that kind of gives me this like oh well, that's why it was a little slower, or I felt a little slower, or something like that, and this year I didn't have that quote unquote excuse, and so it's felt a little bit challenging. But this has also been a theme of all of my coaching conversations in the month of May. We're in June right now, so I'm kind of reflecting on this and so I wanted to talk about it and kind of reopen the podcast with this conversation, because it's something that I'm seeing everyone experiencing Lots of energy, lots of seed planting, lots of creativity and creation, and then now's the waiting right. Now's waiting for the seeds to sprout. Now is a moment of rest, maybe to kind of try and figure out what we do next or how we do something next, some review even. But for a lot of people I know it's just been slow and that's okay. So that's what we're going to talk about today and that's. I'm glad you're here for this conversation. Let's dive in.

Speaker 1: 3:03

So, really, all throughout 2025, this theme of cycles has been coming up time and time again in my coaching one-on-one coaching with people, in my work with leaders and entrepreneurs, in my work with human work. It's just something that we talk about a lot, but now something that I'm really starting to pay a little bit more attention to personally, as I'm entering into year four of running my business I can't even remember. I want to start to see the themes right. I want to start to see the patterns. I have high strategic and my strengths. I really love patterns, and not necessarily so that I can optimize, but so that I can actually start to really lean into trust. The things that I'm seeing in my coaching around cycles, around riding the waves, around productivity all of these things are coming back to this idea of self-trust and I've talked about this before. It's a theme in my work and in my business. But part of being able to ride the waves and maybe not just part, but like the whole thing and being able to ride the waves of your productivity, of your creativity, of you know, your work is trust. And so how do we start to build trust with ourselves, in our cycles, in riding the waves, in trusting our productivity, trusting our creativity, trusting that when it's high, that's great, it's not going to last forever, trusting that when it's low, that's also great, it's not going to last forever. This idea of it's not going to last forever.

Speaker 1: 4:38

Because what I often see is this really big energy of excitement with my clients when they are in that high right, when they are in that high productivity, high creativity, things happening for their business, things happening in their jobs, things happening in their life that they've always wanted or that they've been working toward, and then kind of this crash into well, why aren't things moving as fast anymore? Why aren't they moving at all? Why did this thing stall? And allowing that kind of quote, unquote crash to be proof that we didn't do enough, that we aren't enough, that we're not doing the right thing, that we're not skilled enough, whatever it is, instead of just trusting that our energy is not 100% all the time and sometimes it's going to go down. So today I'm going to talk a lot about my personal experience with this over the last several months In future episodes I think this month we're going to focus a little bit on this idea of self-trust and you know, I'll bring in some examples from other people because we all have our own unique experiences.

Speaker 1: 5:46

But I want to start by talking a little bit about my own and how I'm riding the waves of my own motivation, productivity and creativity right now, and how it's been kind of tough. I know that it can seem like, oh hey, this person's a coach, so they have it all figured out and they're perfect and all of these sorts of things, and that could not be further from the truth and I would like to keep it real here. So that's what we're going to do. So let's dive in. I want to talk about the last couple of months and then really, what I was navigating in May and how I'm starting to very slowly, very, very, very slowly come out of what I was experiencing in May.

Speaker 1: 6:24

So rewinding to January January was a little bit slow, still a little bit low, but with that new year's energy right, that kind of refresh that I always thrive in. I did my goals a little bit differently this year and that was motivating for me at the time. And then fast forward. You know, january, february, march there was a lot of seed planting and I just was in an energy that felt good for that. I was doing some things that are not really within my strengths but felt okay at the time Really around like outreach and kind of putting myself out there and making connections with people and asking people for referrals and asking people to you know if they wanted speakers and and all this kind of stuff. And I will say, in terms of what came from that seed planting, the most successful in terms of like reaching the goals that I laid out for myself was around my outreach for speaking gigs.

Speaker 1: 7:22

Um, I set the goal for myself to speak to 10 groups and have 10 speaking engagements this year. So far I've had I have six scheduled. I have my sixth one next week and so I would say I'm about right on track with that Right. And yet my brain is very instant gratification. My brain is very instant gratification all or nothing. And so, even as I've had these speaking engagements scheduled, even as I'm looking at the goal and I'm like I'm 60% of the way to my goal and we're only 50% of the way through the year, like everything about that should be exciting to me, right, everything about that should make me feel like I am on track, I'm on target, I'm doing the right things. But the voice in my head consistently says you don't have 10. You haven't scheduled 10. And because I didn't schedule 10 in the first weeks of January, I have essentially failed. Like that's the voice inside my head and I'm I'm sharing that because a lot of my clients come to work with me because that is a similar voice inside their head of you. Just you haven't met your goals, you're unsuccessful.

Speaker 1: 8:36

There's not a lot of space for things happen over time. We plant seeds, they germinate, they sprout, maybe they survive, maybe they don't, maybe they bloom, maybe they don't, maybe we get fruit right, like I always use the gardening metaphor because it just works, right, it just makes sense. Like you do not plant a seed in your little plastic thing in January and expect to harvest it the next day and I know that's like a really fun motivational quote that people give, but it's true, right. Like you don't plant that and then get something the next day. And so I've been really, really, really trying to kind of like lean into and embrace this gardening metaphor, because it's something I really struggle with and it's something that's very hard for me when I reach out to someone and I don't immediately hear back from them, or I don't immediately get a yes, or I have 10 conversations and only one person says yes. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 9:33

So this instant gratification thing, and only instant gratification being a measure of success, is a big, big challenge of mine that I work on and also something I see with a lot of my clients. So we're working on it together, which is fun. But yeah, so I kind of I have this voice inside my head that's like you don't have 10, so you're not successful. And through up until now I've been able to kind of talk that voice down by being like, yeah, but I have another conversation scheduled with someone to schedule another presentation, or yeah, but I have these three scheduled out through June that I haven't done yet. And now that I'm kind of in June, a lot of the seeds I've planted are sprouting, but I don't have a lot of other seeds planted, and so that fear and that self-doubt is really kind of coming up again of okay, well, yeah, you've made it to six now, but you don't have anything brewing, you don't have any like seeds planted. You have to start over. You have to start reaching out all over again. You have to, you know, and so it's this thing of like I do have to continue doing these things, and that's hard for me because I want to be able to do it once and then have it be done, and this is a big area for me where trust comes in. I know from the last three plus years of running my own business that I have times of high energy, high motivation, high creativity, high desire to reach out to people and to be a little bit extroverted, and things like that. I also know that I have a lot of time. That's the opposite of that.

Speaker 1: 11:19

What I'm trying to do for myself right now is to be like look at May and be okay with the fact that I didn't do a lot of outreach in May. I didn't do a lot of communications, I didn't do a lot of posting on Instagram or LinkedIn, I didn't do a lot of ideating or dreaming right. I really was just kind of doing the things that were on my calendar that I'd already committed to, and not a whole lot else. And I don't love that. I really don't. I don't think that self-trust means that you have to approve of and love every action that you take. Always, I do wish I had done more in May. I do wish I had had the energy and the motivation to continue planting seeds, but I didn't. And it is what it is and I'm not going to beat myself up about it. Hopefully I'm trying really hard not to beat myself up about it, let's put it that way.

Speaker 1: 12:16

But self-trust means I can look at that time and I can say okay, I don't love that, I really don't. I don't love where I was in May and I trust that it's not going to be like that forever. I trust that that is a moment of my year and that maybe this month, maybe it's July, I don't know. But I'm going to come back. I'm going to feel a little bit more level, I'm going to feel a little bit more motivated. That's what self-trust is and that's why I want to talk about it, because I do feel like oftentimes we are looking at something like self-trust and making it mean that we like everything about ourselves, or we like everything about the actions that we've taken or the things that we've done, and that's not it.

Speaker 1: 13:05

Self-trust is trusting the cycles, knowing that what I did was still, and how I did it was still, an integrity with the vision I have for my life, the vision I have for my work. And if it wasn't that, I I trust myself enough to make changes, right. So, yeah, I didn't do a lot of the things I wish I would have done in May and instead of beating myself up about that, I'm asking myself okay, in this time of feeling low energy and low motivation, how am I leaning into my strengths to do slightly above the bare minimum? And, for example, that would be like recording this podcast. Right, like I have committed to putting out podcasts, I took a little bit of a break, but I really want to come back and I really want to be sharing things. So how do I lean into my strengths in a way that energizes me enough to turn on my computer and press record?

Speaker 1: 14:04

Part of that for me was sitting down and doing a little bit of an ideation, a little brainstorming session. Some of that was around. You know responsibility. I said I was going to do this, so I'm going to do it, and some of it was also around like input, context, futuristic. Input being collecting information and resources, context being what's been happening in the past. How, how do I see these patterns and futuristic being like? How do I want to bring all of this together to serve all of you, to bring something that feels like an experience you all are having as well, and allow it to be imperfect, right?

Speaker 1: 14:46

My mission statement, the vision for my work, is that imperfect people change the world. I can't change the world if I refuse to show up imperfect, and so that's what we're doing with today's episode. We are showing up imperfectly. I have three sentences written down in my notes, whereas normally I have a lot more that I want to share, because this is just a little recap on where I'm at and what's going on. There've also been some great things. Right, I have a corporate client starting this month. I'm so excited to get to work with their team. It's someone I know well, whose business I know pretty well. The potential for making improvements in their culture is there and it's exciting. It's a wonderful group of people. So I'm not going to have to fight people, which I will with some clients, and that's okay. That's. That's part of the work, right? That's part of creating better work environments. We have some really amazing things happening with human work. I've done a good amount of work with human work this month, and that's another thing. Right In May, I spent a lot of time with my brain and human work, and I still have it there, and so, while there's this part of me, that's like you didn't do enough for whole human co.

Speaker 1: 16:03

Well, that's because some of me was occupied elsewhere, and that's okay too. That's a commitment that I made. I don't know why I'm over here beating myself up about that, right? So there are some things that fell off last month. There are also some really great things that came in. I was able to create a couple new workshops and presentations and experiment with them. I'm still doing that. This month, I really got into my exercise class that I've been enjoying and that's been a long time coming for me.

Speaker 1: 16:36

So I you know, I think it's important to really sit down and recognize what has been positive in a time of low energy and motivation and creativity, and what has worked, and some of those things are what I just mentioned, and then there are some things that didn't. So now that you've listened to me ramble on about my own experience from the last month or so when it comes to cycles and self-trust and motivation and burnout and low, high, all of it, I want to just leave you with a couple of ways that I'm personally working on trusting my own cycles, my own highs and lows, my own process really, I guess, is what we're kind of getting at here. And if you're an entrepreneur and a solopreneur, I think a lot of this will make sense to you and land with you. What I've been talking about today. If you work in a nine to five, I think it's also really relevant, right, recognizing that sometimes you're going to be really on top of your game and other times you're not, and you actually may be in an environment that does not really recognize that or allow for that in the same way. And so how do you build structures for yourself that allows you to kind of have the ebbs and flows? How do you communicate with a leader? How do you lean into your strengths, all of that kind of stuff, so that you can function within an environment that expects more of a 24-hour cycle rather than a month, a quarter, a year, whatever it is. So here's some ways that I'm working on trusting my cycles Take what works for you, leave the rest. Think about what might be working for you, for you.

Speaker 1: 18:11

Number one and this has been coming up a lot in my client sessions as well is observe. If you are just now starting to kind of come to this idea of, oh, maybe sometimes I am really low, maybe sometimes I'm really high, but neither of those things are forever, and when I have a hard time I do always somehow find my way back, if this is kind of the first time that you're acknowledging and accepting that, I would really encourage you to spend time observing, and this could be like for the next year of your life, you know, not just like this week or this month, but like give it some time to really commit to observation. So journaling and looking back at times in your life or business where you have had similar feelings that's what I'm doing right now. I'm trying to look back at like the last two years and think, although there's been a lot of life transitions for me in the last two years, so it's not super consistent data, but we're going to work with what we have, looking back at other times that I've felt this kind of low disappointment, other times that I've felt this kind of low disappointment, like I'm not achieving enough. When have I felt that in the past and how long did it last? You know, were there like specific reasons that I was in that mindset? Whatever it is so, how long was I in it? How and when did I emerge from it? Were there any triggers for that low, or triggers that kind of sent me back into a high? You may not be able to really look back and have a lot of clear information about that right now, but what you can do is, starting in this moment, start taking note of those things. Right, like, okay, I was kind of low in May. What happened? What happened? That kind of sent me into a bit of a spiral. How long is this one lasting? When I start to feel myself coming out of it, I'm going to make note of that. Right, that's the observation piece. It's just no judgment, no desire to fix or change or anything like that. It's just what is happening, what has happened in the past noted.

Speaker 1: 20:18

The second thing to start practicing is thinking about actions that worked. So, and this is for, like, this past May, when I was feeling kind of low and kind of down. I really want to look at, like what actually went well during that month, even though I feel like on the whole it was not awesome. And so for me some of those things are like I am naturally an introvert but I have found throughout the last month or so that time spent with people really made a huge difference for me. Like, even just having lunch with someone or, you know, having a neighbor over to hang out in the backyard like those things that I normally avoid because I'm like, oh, I want alone time those have actually been really supportive to me and really kind of energizing-ish for the introvert. So just recognizing that that's something that worked. It might not be something that always works and I'm especially as someone who recharges with time alone, but I can recognize that this past month those things were helpful.

Speaker 1: 21:23

Um, spaces where I got to connect deeply with people felt really good and energizing. So we had the human work retreat at the beginning of the month. Um, that felt really really good, really really energizing for me. That's really related to my relator strength, this need to really go deep and build deep relationships with folks. Um, that was really that really served that strength of mine Um, working with and for others felt doable and good for me.

Speaker 1: 21:52

So I don't have like a contract role or anything like that, but I do work within human work as a mentor, as a steward, and so it's a it's a space for me to kind of lean into my responsibility strength, which is like when I say I'm going to do something, I do it, let me take responsibility for something, and that's a way for me to lean into that strength outside of my business. That then also gives me energy to come back into my business and do things. And that's something I talk a lot about in one-on-one sessions and maybe we'll dive into in another episode. But that's something that's really worked for me, like having people ask me to do things, ask for help, saying I'll help people, that's been energizing for me, that's made me feel productive and helpful and useful, and so I've been allowing more of that, where in the past I've said no a little bit more, just because I'm trying to kind of maintain boundaries and manage my energy. But that's really just an example of something that sometimes saying yes to other people is draining when I do it too much, and other times when I say yes to helping people. It's really energizing. So everything doesn't have to stay the same all the time. Things can change.

Speaker 1: 23:00

Another thing that's worked has been more time consuming information rather than creating it, and I know that, like you probably hear the word consuming and you think like social media and, yes, I have spent way too much time on social media lately. That's not part of this positive thing. But reading books, listening to podcasts, seeing how other people are doing things One of my strengths is input and context. I talked about those earlier and those are really about collecting. Input is collecting information, context is understanding, like history of things, and it's felt really good to just give myself time to consume information without a clear purpose. I used to do that a lot and it was very motivating and inspiring and energizing. And I wouldn't say it's been like necessarily inspiring and energizing, but it's just. I don't have to be producing right now, I don't have to be creating right now. I can just learn and consume and see what comes of that, if anything. So those are some of the actions for me that worked this past month when I've been feeling a little bit low.

Speaker 1: 24:05

If you've been feeling a little bit low, maybe do a little reflection, like what are some of the things that have actually worked, have actually felt good even if they're not the things that normally work and feel good, especially if they're not the things that normally work and feel good for you? If you're feeling in a high right now, you're kind of on the upside of your creativity, motivation, productivity cycle then, same thing, what has been working for you, what's been bringing you energy, what has been exciting, because next time you're in a high you can remember to bring those things in right, you can remember to capitalize on that energy by leaning into those things. It's not something where, if you're in a high right now and you're taking note of those things, that next time you feel low you're like, oh well, I should do this because it'll make me feel high. That's not it. That's probably not going to work. Maybe you can try.

Speaker 1: 24:51

Of course, I love experimentation, but this is just more about recognizing, like where have I been able to push myself? Where have I gone outside of my comfort zone? Where have I done things that I don't normally do because I felt really energized by them, so that you can remember that you have done those things right and you are capable of doing those things, even when in the more like neutral or down moments, you don't want to do them. That's okay, because that's what the up moments are for, all right. And then the third thing, third way that I've been working on trusting cycles is reminders and mantras. So a big part of trusting self-trust, especially as it pertains to these cycles of work and life and being, is the reminder that it's a cycle, the reminder that things are not forever. So some of the things I've been telling myself is I've been here before and I've gotten out of it. I've been there before, meaning like the highs, the good times, the productivity, the creativity, all of that, and I will be there again. So I've been there before, I'll be there again, trusting that it will come back. Even when I'm feeling low, the creativity will come back.

Speaker 1: 26:04

Another reminder I've been kind of circling around and I've shared it a little bit here is this idea that the time between planting and blooming, that germination time, most of it happens in the depths, it happens underground, it happens very kind of quietly. There's not a lot of doing or tending. That happens there, there's just waiting. So maybe I'm in a moment right now that's between the planting and the blooming right and I just need to give it a little time, I need to trust that it's going to bloom, um, and I don't need to tend to it all that much, maybe just water it a little bit. You know, like keep it, keep it alive, keep it alive, but like we don't need to be doing a whole lot. And then the other thing for me really is just that like there's a lot happening in the world right now and that has been the truth for the last many years. Obviously, 2025 has been a little bit more excessive in the drama, we will say, but also from, like a non-global political standpoint, mayember.

Speaker 1: 27:09

I learned this term this year, this kind of idea that, like with the end of school, the end of you know some, just some things, like a lot of things tend to wrap up in May, the beginning of summer, all of that. There's just like so much going on, especially if you're a parent of a school age child. Way too many things, way too many things on the calendar. And so part of that reminder for me because I don't have a school-aged child, so I'm not quite in that is that if I'm not getting responses from people and people are not acting on things as quickly as I'd like them to, or whatever it is from my standpoint, when I'm depending on other people, is reminding myself that it's been May-Sember and that people are busy and that they will come back and they will reconnect and all the things are going to work out. But like it's just a time and that that's not an excuse for every moment of every day for the rest of eternity.

Speaker 1: 28:00

But I can look back at May and be like maybe some of the slowness is due to this right and maybe some of the slowness is due to my lack of communication and things like that, because I was personally feeling really, really hibernating-ish, and both of those things can be true. So those are the three things that I'm kind of working on when it comes to trusting my cycles. Trusting the ups and the downs is like observing, focusing on actions that have worked in both ups and downs, and then reminders and mantras for myself, hand downs and then reminders and mantras for myself. I encourage you to explore those three things, regardless of whether you're kind of in a high productivity, creativity, effectiveness, part of this whole thing or you're in more of a low. Both can be really helpful and really serve you.

Speaker 1: 28:45

If you are hearing that and you're like I have no idea where to start with that, you know what I'm going to say. I am here for you. Schedule a discovery call. Let's figure out, kind of, what your challenges are, that you're facing, and if that's something I can support you with. If you are listening to this, in June there are two spots open for one-on-one coaching with me, and so if you schedule a discovery call, you can claim one of those and then more spots will open up as people kind of finish out their time and their sessions. Likely, there will be a couple of spots opening up in July and I would love to help you with this. As you can see, I'm navigating it myself and sometimes it's a lot easier to help other people do it than it is to do it for myself. But I would love to see you in a discovery call.

Speaker 1: 29:34

If you have questions related to this episode, related to the concept of self-trust and cycles, please send me an email or comment on this episode wherever you're listening to it. That way I can just plan to continue the conversation in future episodes and answer some of your questions. This is, as you know, the so Glad you Asked podcast, so please ask so that I can answer it for you. That is all for today. Thank you for welcoming me back with grace from my little break and I'm really looking forward to all of the topics and thoughts and ideas that I have for the podcast, based on questions and things that have come up in sessions over the last couple of months. So, with that, thank you for being here and I will see you back here next time for our next episode of so Glad you Asked.