How to cycle sync your business for MORE progress and LESS burnout with Renae Fieck

Many female biz owners are operating on a 24 hour schedule, trying to get as many things possible done each and every day… when our bodies are designed to operate in a 28 day cycle instead.

The truth is, women have a biological advantage when they ditch the standard 9-5 way of working and lean into a 28 day rhythm instead.

And when you learn how to use your 28 day cycle to your advantage, you learn exactly when you should be recharging, when you should be accelerating your business forward, when you should be connecting with others, and when you should be reflecting and making room for new... so you make even more progress with less burnout and less hours worked.

Each one of these 4 phases during your 28 day cycle are a superpower once you learn how to tap into them… and Renae is going to share exactly how to do that with you today.

As a Cycle Business coach, Renae has had the honor of empowering hundreds of women to redefine the way they work. In 2016, as a new mom to 3 and a husband with a brain tumor, realizing we are never guaranteed tomorrow, she was determined to create a life she loved and jumped 2 feet into a side hustle with the hopes of creating financial and time freedom. In 2019…she was completely burnt out and wondered if it was in fact possible to raise a family and build a business at the same time. Fast forward to 2021, when using her body’s natural rhythms allowed her to 5x her revenue, work fewer hours, and feel so much more balanced along the way... All because she discovered the power of your menstrual cycle. Renae is now the go-to expert and sought out speaker when it comes to creating a cycle-based feminine approach to building your business. She's the host of The Cycle Advantage podcast and the founder of Your Cycle Advantage, her signature program empowering women to integrate their bodies within their business for higher levels of success.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL​ LEARN:

• What each of the 4 stages of your cycle are and which projects to work on during each stage to maximize your energy and efficiency
• How women function/interact with time differently than men... and how to use it to your advantage
• What you can do even if you don't currently have a menstrual cycle or regular cycle

LINKS MENTIONED IN TODAY'S EPISODE

Follow Renae on Instagram @renaefieck

Get your free copy of the Cycle Sync Tracker atwww.renaefieck.com/cyclesyncbiz/

LEARN MORE FROM MONICA LITTLE

Website: www.monicalittlecoaching.com

Instagram: @monicalittlecoaching

Order your small business daily planner & mindset journal: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1410735360

Sign up for the free training on May 12th 10:00am Pacific on How to Create a Thriving Product Business WITHOUT Relying on Markets at www.monicalittlecoaching.com/live

Transcript

Monica Little: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the product-based podcast. My name is Monica Little, and I'm your host, and I'm so excited to introduce you today to a special guest, Renee Fick. This is such a great episode about how to leverage your menstrual cycle in order to be more productive, to have more energy, to have more momentum, depending on.

What part of the cycle you are in. We're gonna talk about the four different stages of the cycle, where you should focus in your business, when you should rest in your business, how to keep making progress in your business. Even when during certain weeks of the month, we obviously maybe feel a little bit moody, a little emotional, a little drained, versus other weeks of the month, we feel excited and motivated and ambitious to reach our goals.

So there's a method to the madness in terms of tracking your cycle and knowing what to work on during different phases of your cycle to make the most of it. And Renee is an expert on this topic, so I'm so excited to have her here to share her insights with you. A little bit about Renee before we dive [00:01:00] in.

She is a cycle business coach and she has had the honor of empowering hundreds of women to redefine the way that they work. She'll tell you a little bit about her story as a mom to three, a husband with a brain tumor going through multiple different businesses inside hustles with the hopes of creating financial freedom and time freedom, but she was completely burnt out and didn't know if it was possible to raise a family and build a business at the same time.

When she started to actually use her body's natural rhythm, it allowed her to five X her revenue, grow her business like crazy, while working fewer hours and feeling so much more balanced along the way. And this is all because she discovered the power of her menstrual cycle. She is a go-to expert and sought out speaker when it comes to creating a cycle based feminine approach to building your business.

She's the host of the Cycle Advantage podcast and the founder of Your Cycle Advantage program, empowering women to integrate their bodies within their business for higher levels of success. [00:02:00] So excited to introduce you to Renee. So let's jump right into it. Are you ready to go behind the scenes and learn what it really takes to create consistent sales each and every month with your handmade small business?

Join me, Monica, little Self-taught multiple six figure small business owner and your product business coach. As I give you the insight and inspiration on how to better run your business and increase your sales in ways that you may not have even been aware of, so that your business can truly 

Renae Fieck: become what you knew it could be 

Monica Little: back when you first start.

Learn how to let go of perfection, overcome the fear of failure that is holding you back, and finally start taking action so that you walk away feeling like you've cracked the code on how to run a successful small business. You are listening to the Product Biz Podcast. Well, hello and welcome Renee to the product-based podcast.

I'm so excited to have you as a guest here today. 

Renae Fieck: Oh, I [00:03:00] am so thrilled. Thank you so much for 

Monica Little: having me. Oh my gosh. I know we've been back and forth and I'm glad we got this scheduled cause I know we're gonna have such a great conversation and you're such an expert all about really how to leverage your menstrual cycle, and I think this is such like a hidden.

Superpower for women. Mm-hmm. That isn't really talked about and isn't, well, not enough. Right. So, I'm super excited to have you here, but before we dive into your expertise around this topic and how business owners can really use this to have more energy, productivity, and momentum, I would love for you to just introduce yourself for the person listening so they have some background on who you are and what you do.

Renae Fieck: Of course. So, yeah, my story starts. Prob if I were to like encapsulate it, right? Like starts about five, six years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter and my husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor. And so it was this like whirlwind year of trying to figure out like, is this really the life I wanna live ca?

Do I, can we do something else? Like if we are never guaranteed tomorrow, how do we live today and fully enjoy [00:04:00] today? And so that's when I started my business. But I started a network marketing business at the time, cuz it seemed like that was an easy way to get in and get started and found myself hustling.

Mm-hmm. Right? Like so many people are like, oh, I could do this business and I could create this, whatever, and it'd gimme so much freedom. And then I. Then you get into it and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm working so much more than my nine to five. So I was like squeezing in trying to build this side hustle on the side of working what I thought was my dream job.

So I was like pumping. I can remember like sitting at the lunch in the lunchroom, like pumping, eating food and trying to build my business on my phone. At the same time, like in between those breaks, I'm sure many people can relate to, like squeezing things in in those small little cracks of time. And eventually got to the place where I was like, why am I doing this?

Like, why, like, I want the dream. I, my goal's big enough, my why is big enough, the vision is there. All of those things, like all the people tell you is like the most important thing. [00:05:00] But yet I wasn't seeing the success that I wanted and I felt like I was sacrificing today. And I have young kids, right? Like I started this, my business when my, my, my youngest was born.

And I was like, I don't wanna. Watch them grow up and then feel like I miss out on all of that too. So that's when I started trying to transition into my own stuff and building my own business out of network marketing and found myself doing the same exact thing, right? Like hustling my booty off. And so, A few years into that realized like, this is just not working.

And I tried all the different time management strategies. I tried all the time blocking, I tried all the different things and just felt like there's gotta be some shift. Like something's gotta do something, something's got a gift, like I can't keep doing this. And that's when I stumbled across the menstrual cycle and how women are just so different.

And how our time is different, how we feel. So, you know, some parts of your month, you're gonna feel full of momentum and excited about your business and you're gonna feel like [00:06:00] you wanna tackle the world and you have all these big goals and dreams, and then two weeks later you don't wanna do any of it.

And. Most of the business world, most of the coaching world is telling you that there's something wrong with you if that's the case, right? Like you should be able to keep up that momentum if you wanna build your business. You have to be consistent like all of these things. And yet, for most of us as women, we don't feel consistent because our energy, our momentum, our.

Focus, our creativity is not consistent and so it feels incongruent. So anyway, that was when, when I discovered that, I started using it, started to notice a huge shift in my business in my time, and I was starting to share with some of my clients and they were like, oh my gosh, Renee, this is what you need to be telling people.

Like people need to hear this. This is what more women need to know. And so that's now what I do. Now, that's how I help women. 

Monica Little: Yeah. I love hearing like the full story of how you've kind of gone through these different cycles and it's interesting how things repeat itself, right? Mm-hmm. Like you had this one [00:07:00] business and it's kind of like a burnout, really trying really, really hard, not getting it to where potentially you want it to be, or maybe it is, but it's at the sacrifice of like your mental health and your physical health and your family time, right?

Yeah. And then it kind of evolved to this other business, and then you saw the same thing, and then it kind of turned into you actually asking like, What's causing this right, and what can I do to leverage it? So I love how that turned into basically what your business is now and how you help people. And hearing that story is so amazing.

Um, one thing that's super interesting too is I, I've been noticing this on my own lately, and that's why I'm super excited to dive into this with you. Just in terms of, like you said, two weeks where I feel on fire, like content on Instagram comes out easy. It's just like the words come and then the other two weeks, it's just like, I don't know what to post.

Like, I have no idea what to say. It's like pulling teeth, the, the, the brain. It just isn't there. So I'm super excited to dive into that a little bit more. And maybe we can segue into that and just mm-hmm. Tell me a little bit more [00:08:00] about, you know, specifically with women, we have our menstrual cycle and this is something that can be super advantageous for us when we learn how to actually optimize it and work with it.

But before we get there, how do women in this kind of capacity like function and interact differently than men? Mm-hmm. Share a little bit more about that. 

Renae Fieck: Yeah, so men have testosterone, that's their primary hormone, and testosterone has a cycle of about 24 hours. So it starts high in the morning. It waxes and wanes throughout the day, and then at the end of the day, it's depleted.

You know, if you are married to a man, you might notice they come home from work and they sit in their car for 20 minutes before they come in the house, or they spend an hour on the toilet at the end of the day. Like all these things, like that's their way of recharging. I always say that, and almost all the women are like, oh my gosh, yes, my husband 

Monica Little: does that.

He comes in, sits locked in the bathroom. Yes, 

Renae Fieck: yes. And it like, so now, you know, like this is, it's shifting. Like that's what, that's his way of recharging at the end of the day. Most of the ti, most of the time, right. [00:09:00] So, um, but women have 28 days, so we have estrogen in the first half of our month, and then progesterone in the second half of the month.

And how those two hormones play out, they feel very different. So estrogen tends to be very, Like go get 'em. It's big energy. It's lots of momentum. It's a lot of outward energy. So it's a lot of like pushing things out into the world, getting big things up off the ground. Very creative, very focused. If you feel very ambitious, like you're like, I could tackle these big goals, like that is probably estrogen playing out for you.

Progesterone is the opposite. Progesterone tends to be more of an interface, so you wanna recluse back. You want to maybe have you have more self-doubt. You have more fears. It's oftentimes a very moody emotional time too. Women are like, I wanna burn down my business. I don't wanna do this anymore. It's way too hard.

Or like, you know, so if you get to those states, like it's completely normal that you [00:10:00] get to that place where you're like, I just can't do this. Like, I suck as a mom. I suck as a wife. Like something's got a gift. And so those are the two hormones that play out for women. So as you move through the month, Each one of those kind of, we break it down even more into like different phases.

They each impact us, how we show up in our business, how we show up in our lives, how we change things. So for men, if you have like a time block on your schedule for Monday, I. Monday this week, Monday next week, Monday the week after. It's gonna be the same for men. Whereas if you, for instance, if like this is your podcast time block, you have got like, this time I'm gonna do my podcast, there's gonna be some weeks where you want to do it and some weeks where you're not gonna feel it.

And some weeks where you show up and you're gonna be like on fire, you're gonna feel full of. Momentum and energy, and it's like, this was a great podcast. And other ones where you're like, I recorded that five bajillion times and it still didn't feel like it landed. Right? Right. And so [00:11:00] we can force ourselves to do it consistently like that, like men, but that's what's gonna happen is we're gonna end up redoing things, doing it over and over again.

Or like you said, you're gonna sit there and stare at the computer screen and feel like I just have to post to post and get something out there, and then it's crappy, and then you're like, why did I even post in the first place? Right? Yeah. Versus really leaning into and knowing where those rhythms are gonna be, then you are able to strategically plan ahead and actually maximize on when you're in that flow.

When you're in that momentum, when you're in that phase. And then when you're in that progesterone phase, that's actually a really great writing time. It's probably not a really great being on camera and like being on social media time, but writing is a very powerful time. So each one of the phases actually has benefits that are what we would call quote unquote productive.

That contribute to our business, but it looks different, right? We're not doing one project from start to finish in that phase. Like every, you know, it may look [00:12:00] like one week you're recording the podcast one week you're actually putting it out there. One week you're writing the content for it. One week you're editing like it's just got this rhythm, versus we do it start to finish all together and.

If that makes sense. 

Monica Little: Yeah, absolutely. That makes total sense. So two questions that came up. Yes. I love how you said like estrogen is when you have this big ambition and motivation and the other two weeks where it's the progesterone. Mm-hmm. Which is more of like the interface and feel a little bit more fear and moody.

How do we know what phase we're in? I think obviously people can probably tell just by their moods. Right? But is there a way basically by like when your time of the month is what follows is what phase? Can you tell us more about that? 

Renae Fieck: Yeah, for sure. So yeah, the first would be to track your cycle, right?

Most women are not tracking their cycle, so that would be number one is to track where you're at. So you would start with your menstrual phase. I like to call that the recharge phase because that's what it's really geared towards, is helping you recharge. So, [00:13:00] If you think of like, I live in Southern California.

We have Teslas absolutely everywhere. I think it's probably the most popular car on the road these days, but it goes from zero to 60 in three seconds. It's like an Uber fast car, but if you don't plug it in, it's not gonna go anywhere, right? Mm-hmm. And we as. Human beings are the same way. Like we have to recharge.

And so see that menstrual phase as your time of being able to recharge and have that reminder every single month like, Hey, I need to slow down. I need to pull back. Because right after that is that acceleration phase. So your estrogen picks up right after there. So I call that the accelerate phase. That is your phase of like getting big things up off the ground, pushing big projects, being really what we call productive in the more of the masculine sort of ways of productivity.

And so we want that energy, right? Like we want to be fully fueled. To be able to lean into that accelerate phase with our maximum [00:14:00] amount of energy, and then we reach up. The top of where estrogen kind of peaks out is ovulation. So that is your connect phase. Your phase when you're the most connected to other people.

You're the most radiant, you're the most beautiful, you're the most like communicative. You can communicate the most articulately. So any of your social media posts that require like reels and videos and like all that kind of stuff, prime time for that and. In terms of like, when we look at tracking, I would highly recommend you're tracking your, your period, but also tracking ovulation because where that ovulation falls will kind of help determine where those other phases fall.

And some everybody cycles a little bit different. And also if you're not ovulating, that's a really good insight to pull in and, and to know and follow up with your medical team and things. But so we've look at that. There's the ovulation that connect phase, and then after that is when progesterone would kick in.

So that would be your lal phase. Uh, I call it the reflect phase. [00:15:00] It's the time. A lot of people say PMs week, right? Like you're very can get moody. But even then that could be questionable. A lot of the holistic doctors I talk to say like, we really shouldn't be experiencing PMs. And part of why we experience PMs is because we're so out of sync with our rhythms.

But that is your time for really emotional. Like turning in, releasing your limiting beliefs, releasing those fears and doubts, like processing all of that so that when you move through that next phase and go back into that recharge and the cycle starts again, you actually have leveled up. You're not the same person that you started with.

Because now you've moved through the cycle. You've released all of these fears, you've released these doubts, and, and you allow yourself to move through it and process it rather than just like squashing it down. So that is kind of the, the whole cycle in a little quick nutshell 

Monica Little: there for you. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love it.

And I'm thinking of some examples. Too. I just had a conversation with some of my clients where we literally talked about like a month [00:16:00] ago, a lot of breakdowns, a lot of meltdowns, and then it was good, and then we're kind of getting in the space again. A lot of breakdowns, a lot of meltdowns. Yeah. So I love how you said during that progesterone phase when we do have like the p m s Moody emotions coming up.

To truly reflect. Mm-hmm. To be able to not let it get to you in that same manner the next time around. Yeah. So what does that mean to you? Does that mean like journaling? Does that mean like notice what's triggering you and kind of work through it? Like how does someone truly take that potential moody time that happens to us?

And Sounds like it kind of happens naturally, right? Yeah. And actually use it to level up for the next time it comes around 28 days later. 

Renae Fieck: I think this, this is gonna be unique to every person, right? Like what you, what works for you, and what allows you to process that is gonna be different. Some of the ones I always recommend going to are things like getting outside and being in nature and getting movement.

Like those two things allow, and especially if you combine the two, like going for [00:17:00] a walk or a hike or something, allows you to slow your brain and slow your thoughts and create the space, which I think. That is a big part of our society these days anyway, is there's so much noise and there's so much coming at us, especially like social media.

I didn't mention this, but I highly recommend taking at least three days off social media during your recharge phase because it allows you to tap into your intuition. People will say like, that's our, when you're bleeding is oftentimes when you're the most in tune with. Like who you are and your intuition and your most creative thoughts.

And so if we're clouding that with all the noise on social media, you're missing out potentially on your like super interesting, biggest breakthroughs. Yeah. So. In that phase, like really, truly, I think a lot of it is, is about disconnecting and creating less noise in your life. And so what that looks like for you.

It might look like yoga, it might look like journaling, it might look like meditating. It might look like going outside and going for a walk or you know, just doing something that you [00:18:00] enjoy. Like there's times when I, I live by the beach and I'll go sit down at the beach and just like, Just sit there and let the kids run wild and havoc and just allow me to sit in that space and that can do it for me.

Um, but I think really it's combining that stillness and space. Mm-hmm. That so much we don't get so much of that because of social media and especially if we're building businesses. Right. We're on, we're almost on all the time and we're going all the time. Whether it's social media or businesses or.

Producing or whatever it is that having that moment to pull back and still and slow down is really invaluable for our growth in so many different ways. 

Monica Little: Yeah. And I love what you said about slowing down and like finding what you do during that reflect period when we are feeling more moody is truly just knowing like what lifts your spirits, right?

Mm-hmm. And I think a lot of people don't know that. I don't think a lot of people know. I think a lot of people when they're having a bad day, which I totally get it, like have your emotions and feel it. We don't need to like, Worry or pretend [00:19:00] anything's not there. But you have to have these things in your back pocket of like, okay, if I'm having a crappy day, if my mood is low, I'm gonna acknowledge my feelings.

Maybe I'm gonna have a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster for like an hour. But then I know that if I go for a walk and get some fresh air and leave my phone at home, that I'm gonna come back feeling at least a little bit better. Just so like my whole day isn't entirely ruined from like, Feelings, emotions, moods that kind of come at us Yeah, sometimes.

Which, what feels like randomly, right? Yeah. 

Renae Fieck: Well, and I think that this too, like just knowing that you have these cycles playing in the, like they're playing in the background. It's like a, a computer, right? We don't pay attention to the hardware and the software, but it's running all the time. And the only time we notice that it's running.

Is when something crashes and then we're like, crap, it's not working right. Like it impacts us. And so when we think about like our hormones are doing this for us all day long, there's these things happening to us in the background all the time. And so when we bring our attention to it and we bring that awareness to us, It almost gives us sense of permission.[00:20:00] 

It gives, it gives the permission to slow down, right? So when you're not feeling that energy, or you are feeling a little bit moody, or you are feeling a little bit triggered, it removes the sense of feeling guilty that you can't keep up or that you're not performing, or that you wonder like, why can't I do this?

Or Why can I not keep it together? Or Why am I feeling so triggered? It kind of takes some of that. That off and the guilt and, and allows you that permission to be like, you know what? This is what my body needs. This is what I need right now. It's not that I'm incapable, it's not that I can't do it or that there's something wrong with me.

It's just this is a part of my natural rhythm and I know if I lean into this rhythm, I'm actually gonna be better off than if I try to just keep pushing through. And so I think that is a huge. Piece of that with the women that I work with is just acknowledging when they are feeling that way or when they are feeling that moody, that it's this permission to, yeah, turn the computer off or, yeah, put things away for a little while.

Like, it's [00:21:00] okay to take a bubble bath and say, kids, I'm skipping bedtime tonight. Like, it's okay to do those little things and know that it's not all the time, it's just this rhythm, and this is what your body needs right now in this moment. 

Monica Little: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that's so beautifully said. And, and a couple things that I wanna add on to that, just to get your perspective kind of as we're talking about the progesterone period, um, like when PMs, the week before the period, and all those things.

So, two things that I wanna ask you. Number one, you mentioned that this is kind of like riding time, so I would love to know what you mean by that. And number two, since you said this is kind of like the reflect period, you know, don't go too hard with like your goals and your ambitions and work because it's just not in sync with us.

What, how do people who are working on growing their business still make sure that their business is growing while also acknowledging that like, Hey, this week is gonna be a tough week and maybe I shouldn't push right now. Yeah. 

Renae Fieck: Well, I think it's just reframing too, a little bit of like what we define as productive and what productivity looks like.

So sometimes we think it's like this [00:22:00] cre the creation, right? The bi, the putting things out there and the, the doing big things that we put so much glamor on as in the sense of like, that's what it takes to run our business. But even to go into the sense of like, yeah. Writing. So if you've ever sat down and sat at the computer and felt like the words just flow out of you easily and 

Monica Little: effortlessly.

I thought you said riding. Okay. 

Renae Fieck: Okay. Writing. Writing. I don't know why. I thought, like when you said writing, I was like riding a cowboy, but that's not what you Well, I, 

Monica Little: I thought you said riding. That's why I'm like, tell me what you mean by riding time. Okay. Okay. You mean like, like riding? Okay. Okay.

Perfect typing. Keep going. 

Renae Fieck: Yes. Yes. So if you feel like your words are just like, flowing out of you and you feel very emotionally connected. Right. So, so much of what we do on social media or when we're selling a product or we're selling something is helping create an emotion with our audience. Right?

We're, we're telling a story or we're captivating them in some way. And it's gonna be so much easier to do that [00:23:00] when you feel those emotions. Right? Interesting. When you, when you're feeling like. Whatever, but high or the lows or the whatever. When you're feeling very emotional, you're gonna be able to write really juicy content versus when you're in that more like logical production sort of space, your head thinks different, and so your brain isn't thinking creative.

Your brain is thinking like, You know, produce and all these, so it's just different. But on the same token, um, that phase, the other question you had, what was 

Monica Little: it? Yeah. So what do you recommend people to do during that time just to keep progressing their business? Is it like plan ahead? I like how you said focus on like writing and emotion, but what else do you recommend during that 

Renae Fieck: time?

So this phase is actually what I call kind of like your dot your eyes cross your T's phase. So it's a very detail-oriented phase, so you can be very productive in this phase, but it's very meticulous kind of productivity. So it might look like cleaning out your inbox. It might look like cleaning up your, [00:24:00] your.

You know, whatever your systems like, it might be organiz organizing. I tend to be one that like when I'm working on projects, everything just goes into my downloads folder and I just grab it outta my downloads folder. And then like once a month I'll go in, I'll be like, oh, this is where these should actually go.

Yes. And the way they should actually live, not just in my downloads folder all the time, or it can be a really ti great time for like proofreading or editing or. Like any of that. Like it's, you know, progesterone's like your, your, your pregnancy hormone, right? So think of like nesting, so you might feel very nesty.

It's, you can still be very productive. It's just not necessarily I'm pushing big products out in the world. It's a little bit more inner behind the scenes type of productivity, if that makes sense. Mm. If you have ever noticed, like maybe there's a time of the, where you've randomly been like, you know what?

I just wanna declutter my entire closet one day, one afternoon. It's probably this phase because, so interesting. Your body, your [00:25:00] brain is just like, let's clean it out, let's clear it out, let's get things organized, get things detailed, get things back in line, and it. And makes sense because then you go into a phase when you're supposed to kind of pull back and rest.

And so it's like your brain's natural wit and body's natural way of preparing you to take a little break. Like, like let's clean house, let's get things in order and then go back. So when we look at all of the cycle, They all actually keep your business moving forward. It's just the focus is different.

Mm-hmm. Right. Your focus is on, like, maybe one phase is all about production. I know a lot of your audience like has, you know, product-based businesses and so maybe there's a phase of your month where you're like heavy focused on producing and creating your products. And then there's a time of your month where maybe you're focused more heavy on marketing, and then there's a phase of year, month where you're more focused on like the admin behind the scenes detail, making sure everything's running smoothly.

And so you have more of this cycle in your business rather than necessarily, uh, Doing all [00:26:00] four of those things in the same day and mm-hmm. It's never gonna be completely Carmen compartmentalized. Right? Like, there are definitely times you're gonna do all four of those different types of things in throughout the entire month, but the more that you get in line with that, the more effective you're gonna be.

So, Even if you, that's one thing people always ask is like, oh my gosh, this is a lot to change everything in my life, or everything about the way I run my business. And it doesn't have to be, you literally could change 10% of the things that you're doing and you're gonna start to notice a difference.

Monica Little: Yeah, and it's, and even not even change, it's just like re. Rebook it or reschedule it or just finesse it. Like you're still gonna do these things, but maybe you at a different time where it makes more sense. So it's still gonna get done, but just maybe not how you originally thought in the timeline just to align with this.

So I absolutely love that. So progesterone, you said this is like writing? This is editing, this is organizing. Absolutely. Love it. Ovulation. I know you said that's where you really connect. Mm-hmm. So is this where you said [00:27:00] more like the marketing stuff, like showing your face recording reels, that type of content, right.

Renae Fieck: Yep. Yep. Okay. Anything like that. Going to buy new clothes, getting your hair done, like anything related around like your beautiful self is gonna be awesome during that phase. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I 

Monica Little: love it. And then estrogen, you called that the accelerate. So that's kind of where it's like guns and blazing, right?

You feel motivated, you feel excited. Mm-hmm. You have momentum and it's kind of take on and tackle some of those big projects that are up ahead, right? Yep. Yep. Beautiful. I love it. So I wanna dive into one more really important conversation here cuz a little bit of background on me that I think will segue into this is, From someone who was on birth control for like 13 years and then went off of a birth control about maybe four years ago, and it took me a good like three years for my hormones to really balance, like I went through insane cystic acne, then I went through insane cramps, then I went through heavy cycles all the while when I got off of birth control was super inconsistent too.[00:28:00] 

Yeah. Then, um, I mean, I just had this crazy hormone journey and over the last year just from changing diet, exercise, stress, finally it's like clicked. And now in the last year, I've gotten really in tune with when do I feel good and like what cycle is the moon in and how that affects me. And it's all interconnected.

Mm-hmm. But I know you mentioned earlier like, okay, well what if someone's not ovulating? Right? What if someone is on birth control? What if someone doesn't have a regular cycle? What do you recommend in that 

Renae Fieck: instance? Yeah, and I'm, I'm so glad you brought this up cuz it is true, there's a lot of women out there that are either on birth control currently or have very irregular cycles or postpartum right when you're, or pregnant or any of those types of things.

And all of those different factors are postmenopausal. They're all gonna impact the way your hormones show up. And so there's a couple of different ways that we could look at this. Like one is, Kind of going to the question like you at the was like, how can I regulate my hormones? Like how can I get [00:29:00] them a little bit more rhythmic?

And our bodies are really smart. Our bodies try to adapt to the lifestyle habits that we're giving it. So for most of us, we've been taught to kind of be in this 24 hour rhythm, and we've been taught to have this like consistent rhythm every single day. And so it's, our bodies are trying to get into that rhythm, which could also be then contributing to.

Why our cycles aren't as rhythmic as they are, right? Mm-hmm. They're, they're off because we're telling it to function a different way. And so as we're doing that, cortisol goes up, right? Corti, because our bodies are like a little internally stressed and cortisol goes up, and then it inhibits the production of those fertility hormones and it inhibits metabolism and it inhibits like lots of things.

So one, the one strategy would be if you're in that space, if it's just kind of irregular, Trying to lean into your cycle and actually almost like imposing Ari, the four phase rhythm on there can help your body start to regulate. So that's what happened for me. [00:30:00] I was postpartum when I first learned about this, and I had not had a cycle in forever because it's like, you know, you have one baby back to back to back.

And then I was like, I. Within probably six to eight weeks was cycling normally, and then had a normal cycle ever since then with some variation with the Covid stuff like Covid definitely threw it, but prior to that I wouldn't, before I had babies, I was like 60 days, 40 days, 30 days, like all over the place.

I was not a very rhythmic person, so leaning into cycling with it actually helps support your body. So that's number one. Number two, if that's not you, if you're. Postmenopausal or pregnant or any of those other things, like I firmly believe that as women we were just made to cycle. I don't believe we were made to have this on all the time.

Like I think our, I so many things in nature are all about rhythm, right? We've got the seasons of the year. The moon has phases. There's so much to us that I [00:31:00] think even if we just embrace the concept of the idea of like we are cyclical beings and embrace that you will feel so much better. You will feel so much more productive.

So while your hormones may not be in the same sink or the same line, You start to run in the cyclical way and you will start to notice a difference. So you brought up the moon. I oftentimes recommend that for my clients, that a can't figure out where they're at in their phases or things are way irregular and they need to help stabilize it.

Or if they're. Post-menopausal or pregnant or birth control or any of those types of things is to follow the moon cycle. And generally what happens is that your body learns, like after a while, your body starts to learn that this is the rhythm, even if the hormones aren't the biggest thing that are contributing to it.

Even if like your hormones aren't making you feel like this really high and this really low. Your body and you overall as a human being, you're gonna feel more balanced. Yeah. You're gonna feel like you're meeting like different core needs that you have as a human being, and it's just gonna feel [00:32:00] so much better.

So regardless, I feel like it's great for every woman. It's just looks different for each person. 

Monica Little: Yeah. And I love what you said. It's super interesting because I read something, I don't know what it was when I went off birth control, I read Beyond the Pill by Jolene Brighton. She's like a, she's a, oh, it's, it is a really great book.

It's just about like that transition and how hormonally crazy it is. Yeah. Um, and she mentioned something about how, I don't know which one it is, but naturally, most women have their cycle or actually menstruating, I think it's during the New Moon. And maybe you know the answer to this in terms of like what.

What actual, you know, woman's hormone phase aligns with what Moon phase, but I found that to be really interesting because like what you said then, if you just align. These kind of, um, tactics and how you work and how you rest to the moon because essentially we're supposed to be tied to the moon with when we have our cycle, depending on where the moon is, then you're kind of reverse engineering it and you're [00:33:00] still being like, affected by the moon anyways.

And now it's just kind of like aligning your hormones with it. So do you know, and, and let me know too, cuz this is totally a question kind of off topic, but do you know for example, like when the moon is getting smaller, when it's about to be a new moon, that means progesterone and it's kind of like the reflect phase.

Do you have any guidelines 

Renae Fieck: on that? Yeah, so if you think about like the full moon being bright and radiant and shining, that's your ovulation phase. Hmm. So the new moon would be, it's like dormant and quiet and behind the scenes that's your recharge. So that would be your menstruation phase. So you kind of follow the same rhythm.

It's just like New Moon is menstruation and the full moon is like Right. And shining you like you're radiant. Right. And I have read certain things and I don't, I'd have to dig into it more, but they do. I have read some. Studies or some information that is talked about, you know, tribes of people that don't have access to artificial light, that only have more of like the moon and fire and things like [00:34:00] that, that they tend to cycle with the moon pretty consistently.

Mm-hmm. So then there's been some stuff I've read in terms of that as like, well, maybe all these ar. Artificial lights, like being, my son just came and had me hand in my cell phone trying to get me to unlock it, but like, like the cell phones in, in our at night, right? Like we're laying in bed looking at our cell phones, and we have that artificial light that's impacting our circadian rhythms and our production of melatonin.

It's impacting so many different things. And so you think all of these factors are contributing to why our cycles are off, and so, amen. There's, there's so much like, I, I mean, our bodies are so complex. Our environments are so complex, like, right? Like we could say, oh, it's artificial light. Oh, it's pesticides.

Oh, it's this, or, oh, it's that. And it's like, it's probably all of it. And there's like probably a little bit of everything. It's like the stress, the hormones, the everything's contributing. So I kind of fall on that line of like, what can I do to help support my body? How can I fall in [00:35:00] line with this and like, You know, how can I use the tools that I have to help support my body the best it can?

And your body is the vehicle, right? Especially if you're a product-based business and you're like making things and doing things, like you have to be able to do that. And if you have no energy or you're feeling fatigued or, you know, I'm by trade, I'm an occupational therapist, and so I know a lot about like repetitive stress injuries and like things like that.

It's like your body is so. So needed. And so we can't undervalue and can't neglect our bodies if we want to achieve big goals or we wanna live the life of our dreams, like we have to make sure we're taking care of it. 

Monica Little: Yeah, I agree with that so much. And that was like a big lesson with me as I went off birth control and went through that craziness.

It's like I need to figure out what has caused my body to be so much outta whack. I mean, number one, cause I was on birth control for so long, which then I found out you're not, it's not supposed to be a long-term solution. And I was like, oh, well that's interesting. I've been on it for 13 years. Um, but then trying to like reverse all of the damage [00:36:00] from that, right?

By like truly eating healthy and managing stress. And staying away from like news and social media. Mm-hmm. Unless it's like work related, me having to be on there. So it's, it's funny that you said the light thing too, and maybe this is one of those men versus women differences, but, Ever since we moved to Arizona at like 6:00 PM I turn all the lights off and I literally live by candlelight, but my husband goes around and like turns the lights on and I'm like, you gotta stop with the lights.

So it's so funny that you said that maybe it's like the woman thing that I'm like aligned with the moon and the natural light and he's just kind of like testosterone, turning my lights on. Everywhere he goes. So I just thought that was kind of hilarious that you said that. Um, but yeah, super interesting.

I mean, we can track through the moon, we can track through how we feel. I know you also mentioned just tracking like your ovulation and your cycles in general, is there like an app or a way to do that? Do you just recommend like writing it down on paper? What do you recommend for, um, for 

Renae Fieck: that? Well, my number one thing is gonna be [00:37:00] what's gonna work best for you because all of us are different, right?

So if you are one of those people that loves your, your phone and you're like with your phone all the time and you wanna just. Put something in there and kind of track it in your phone and have it that way. That's great. My one caveat is that sometimes it's hard to really predict and see patterns in the apps.

Like most of the apps don't necessarily track more than like menstruation and ovulation. They're really geared towards like helping people get pregnant or helping them avoid pregnancy. So some of these other pieces, I feel like a lot of them are missing. The one that I've used is called Clue, and it does allow you to put a few other things in there like.

You know, your constipation, bloating, how your mood feels like, but it's still pretty limited. At one point I was like, they only had four options. It's like four moods for the day. And I'm like, I don't know about you, but I have a little bit more than four mood choices in a day. So they've added a few, but it's still, it's only like eight.

It's not significant. So, If you are really wanting to kind of [00:38:00] track like productivity and energy, I do highlight, or I do recommend trying to do it on paper because you can see, and I have a tracker I can send for anybody listening that is on a, it's like a circular tracker that you can lay it side by side by side and see, you can see patterns month to month to month, like oh, on day.

Days, four through seven, this is how I felt every single month. Or, oh, I was craving this one food three, these three days every single month or whatever you wanna write down. It allows you to be able to vis, like, I'm a visual person, so I like being able to visually see it versus sometimes in the apps and the the computers, it's hard to see.

That data over time, and I don't have yet to find an app that will actually like create that data and say like, Hey, we've noticed this trend. Mm-hmm. On this day. Maybe that'll be an app I need to create someday. 

Monica Little: I love it. Well, you gave us some great options. Yeah, perfect. Sounds absolutely amazing. Well, before we end with, where can people you know, continue to stay in touch with you, I would love to just ask if there's [00:39:00] anything else you wanted to share.

You've shared. So much amazing insight on this topic, so I really appreciate it. But anything that we didn't get to or anything that you wanna wrap up with as we talk about menstruation and the cycle and really leveraging it to your benefit? Yeah. Well, 

Renae Fieck: I think the only thing we kind of touched on, like the permission, and we touched on a few things, is.

To know that like your body is different than every other person's body out there, and there's so much information teaching us how to eat, what to eat, when to sleep, when to exercise, what to, you know, like there's, there's a diet for everything. There's a way to sleep for everything. Like there's so much of the world that's telling you how to live and breathe your life.

But yet none of them know you more than you do know you. And sometimes most of us haven't been really taught to listen to ourselves because of that. We've been told to do it all these other ways. And so what I would encourage you to do is just start asking yourself like, what does my body need today?

Mm-hmm. Not what should I be doing? What do I need to be doing? Or what does anybody [00:40:00] else say I need to be doing or how I should be doing it? But like, Truly getting to that place of asking yourself, what do I need today? Both on a physiological, spiritual, emotional component, like, what do you need today?

And I think if you start asking yourself that question every single day, everything will change for you. Yeah, 

Monica Little: I love it. So beautifully said and perfect way to wrap up this episode. So please share with us where people can continue to learn from you. Let us know about your program, anything that you wanna share so people can still keep in 

Renae Fieck: touch.

Yeah. I have my podcast, which is The Cycle Advantage, which I'm sure will have you over there too, so you can listen to us. Both there and on Instagram, I am Renee Fick there and on TikTok the same. And then I'm on Facebook, but I don't hang out there as much. So those two places would be the best place to find me there.

Um, we do have the doors to your cycle advantage open periodically throughout the year. So I would definitely, if you wanna get that tracker, you'll be on my email list. You'll make sure to be [00:41:00] the first and the know when, when the door's open to your cycle advantage. And that's 

Monica Little: it. Oh my gosh. Awesome. I'll make sure to link all that.

I'll make sure to link that tracker too. That will then get people on your email list too. So we'll put that in the show notes so people can stay in touch. And with that, I just wanna say thank you once more. Renee, this was awesome. I'm so grateful to have you on here to share your expertise and thank you for being a guest on the product, this podcast.

Renae Fieck: Thank you so much.