Finding Your Balance Between Structure and Flow in Scheduling
Welcome back to Under the Surface!
I’m your host, Krystal Woods, a Human Design Specialist, coach, educator, mom of two, vegan, and classic rock lover. On the blog, we’ll be diving deep into a wide range of topics from relationships and feminine embodiment, to magic mushrooms, pop culture, business, Human Design, and everything in between.
If you’re a creative soul and love reading conversations that expand your mind, welcome to Under the Surface. Let’s dive in!
Today’s topic is very present for me and it’s something that I’ve been reflecting on for a while. But first, a little background…
Shifting to the new paradigm
I’ve been in business for a few years now and I just kind of stumbled across it. I did not intend to become an entrepreneur. I didn’t mean to start my own business. It just happened very organically, and kind of chaotically.
When I started out, I was naturally strategic. I wanted the structure first. Actually, I focused so much on the structures, the website, the offers, how I can receive payments, and I did an override of a lot of the energetics.
What I mean by this is that I worked constantly. I didn’t pay attention to my body’s cues for rest. And mind you, I started my business when my (now) six-year-old son, Matthew, was a toddler. It was the year before I got pregnant with my daughter, Coco, who’s two now.
So, I had a toddler who did not sleep well at all and I was very into working out by doing strength training, hiking all the time, and teaching dance classes. On top of all of that, I was trying to start a business from scratch, with almost no knowledge.
Rest was not a thing at this time. A lot of these energetic buzz words like play and pleasure are hot topics now but they were not a part of my awareness then.
Also, for those of you who are Human Design nerds, I have an undefined root and sacral, plus a defined heart center (if that gives you a bit of insight into the energy dynamics).
My point is that I was heavily relying on these structural and strategic moves. I wasn’t paying attention whatsoever to the energetics, the divine feminine, or flow.
Eventually, I began entering the spiritual space. I started building my business on Human Design and found my way into a spiritual role in my online business.
Pretty suddenly, it was clear that hustle culture was very over. The mentality shifted to: if you’re doing business that way, then you’re in the old paradigm. But, in the new paradigm, we rest and we play and we receive pleasure.
Rather than focusing on these structures and strategies in business, we’re focusing on energetics. The healing, clearing blocks, reprogramming the subconscious, and all of that fun shadow work.
All of that is very valuable. I mean, if you know me at all, you’d know that I have made all of that stuff such a big part of my life in the last few years. It’s been beautiful and I’ve done so much healing. I have so much more self-awareness, acceptance, and love. It’s been a very worthwhile journey.
Finding balance
In business specifically, the pendulum swung too far.
At first, I wasn’t paying attention to my emotions and energy at all. Then, once I got into it and wasn’t seeing success as fast as I wanted to, I fell prey to these classic messages:
You’re not making money in your business because you’re energetically blocked.
You are making money in your business but you’re subscribing to hustle culture when you should be resting.
You’re doing something wrong. Fix it.
I put a lot of intention and effort into embodying the feminine within myself, in my business, and other areas of my life. What happened for me personally was that I started to feel kind of lost. It’s not that I felt unproductive, I legitimately wasn’t doing anything.
Then, of course, things weren’t moving or happening. Sometimes, that’s fine. But, it got to the point where it didn’t feel fine anymore and it wasn’t fun.
There was no structure holding me up.
Again, for the Human Design nerds: I have mostly left facing variables. So, I’m a pretty structured, focused, strategic thinker. And because of that, I just think I’m not the person who’s going to thrive with going with the flow all of the time. It makes me feel shaky. I’m a 1/3 profile, and I really need to feel solid and strong. Part of what makes me feel solid and strong is having structure in my life, in my business, in my parenting, and in my relationships.
Structure is important because I’m a creative human. I’m very artistic and in a lot of ways I love to step into this visionary archetype. It’s hard for me to dive deep into that if I don’t feel grounded.
If you look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, you know that you have to have your basic needs met before you reach that peak of self-actualization. You need to be surviving before you’re thriving. Part of what gets me out of survival mode is feeling like I have the strength of structure in place. Within that, I can be free and creative and flow within the structure.
This has been an important realization for me because I think that it adds another layer to my self-trust.
In Human Design, we talk about variables as being left or right. Black or white. When you’re learning, it’s important to understand the difference this way and it’s equally important to recognize that we do need to find some balance within those.
You may be naturally strategic and focused in your thinking and being. Or you might be really free flowing and creative, and you might feel like routine and structure kind of holds you down.
I think what we all need to do is find the balance that works for us.
I think we need to recognize when we’re swinging too far left or right. We need to take time to recalibrate to something that really helps us feel grounded and free at the same time.
Here’s one fun way that I’ve been incorporating this into my business lately.
MY WORK WEEK
I have to give credit to my business coach, Sam Garcia at The Dirty Alchemy for doing a cool series about planetary magic and working with this in your business. This planted a seed within me months ago and in the last month, I kept revisiting this topic.
I started to incorporate some of that into my business because it’s a really cool, creative, flowy type of way to add structure. Basically, if you look at the days of the week, they are all derived from Latin words that correspond to different planets and their energy.
I have taken this concept and implemented it into my weekly schedule for my business. Before, my days would be scattered with having to create an Instagram post in the morning, then the meeting with the PR firm, and then a client call before creating content for my program. It was so, so, so hard for me to switch gears like that.
Once I get into flow, that’s kind of it for me for the day. I ride that wave until it’s gone and I’m done. There’s no more energy for doing it all in one day. I wasn’t getting much done at all. I was feeling drained and scattered.
So instead, I’m trying out these themed days of the week and am seeing how it goes. Here’s what my schedule looks like now…
MONDAY - MOON
Monday is ruled by the moon, which represents our shadows and internal world. For me, it’s Money Monday because it’s a day for me to really deeply connect with my intuition in an intentional way to get into my bigger visions.
I’m connecting with my business on this day to ask questions like: Where are we going? What intentions am I acting on? Are there any goals we’re working towards? Why are they important?
This also relates to me focusing on both my personal and business finances. My money coach, Mandy Thomas, helped me set up really cool systems for my finances. As a strategic person, it feels aligned to have all these neat spreadsheets to use to track my money (but that can be an entire blogpost on its own).
So, Monday is for getting into these spreadsheets. I get to see what’s coming in, what’s going out, and I know where and why. And Monday is for entering into the space where I can focus on that by journaling and tapping to get into my body and out of mind to embody my rich bitch energy. P.s. you can find tapping for your type here!
TUESDAY - MARS
Tuesday is ruled by Mars, which represents energy and action (okay, and sex too). This is my content creation day. I’ve always felt a little bit of resistance to creating content and can use this energy as an extra boost!
The mars energy gives me the kick in the pants to get started. And once I get started, I’m on fire. I write down all of these ideas for posts in my notes, and this energy helps me sit down and create the structure to pump those ideas out.
Tuesdays are my ritual to help me focus and connect with why I’m creating content. I allow myself to go nuts with it and be really creative to allow the energy to pour through me… to you.
WEDNESDAY - MERCURY
Wednesday is ruled by Mercury, which is all about community and communication.
This is the first day of the week that I will take calls. So I take client calls, group coaching calls, or podcast interviews. So, that’s my Wednesday!
THURSDAY - JUPITER
Thursday is ruled by Jupiter, which represents abundance and expansion.
I take calls on Thursdays, but not really interviews. I don’t know why but it’s not a day where I’m vibing with being interviewed.
Typically Wednesday feels better for that. It may sound silly, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. I think it’s because my son has a half day on Thursday, so I only have so much bandwidth.
FRIDAY - VENUS
Lastly, Friday is ruled by Venus, which is the planet of love, beauty, and pleasure.
This is kind of like a CEO day for me. But, it’s also about reflection. I ask myself: How am I feeling about the past week and how did it go?
I also have the intention of going out on Fridays. Either trying something new, meeting a new person, or going to a new place. I could even be getting my nails done. The intention is for me to really be feeling myself and also connecting with a new person or place.
So basically, this structure holds things in place for me so that I can feel free to do what I want to be doing in each moment. I also know that everything is getting done and my business is being nurtured. The business needs are being met, and so are mine.
This is my practical way of balancing out the structure and strategy with the energy and creativity of emotions in my life and business. It’s how I bridge together these two polarities in a way that feels good, balanced, and embodied.
Being a 1/3 profile, it’s really just trial and error. Everything is. But here I am letting you know about this and if it resonates, perhaps you may try it with no error, right?
Drop a comment below if this resonates with you because there’s a lot of really fun things you can do with this.
If there’s any other way that you have found balance in the way that you create and schedule your time in your business that really honors both the structure and flow within you, share it and let us know!
Okay, that’s it for now. Sending you love all the way from Mystic, CT.
Until next time.
