thanks brilliant for sponsoring this video
hi so today we are in my kitchen because i want to make myself a nice cup of tea
and really start discussing a really important issue so as you know i've been
making productivity videos for a while now and one thing i've noticed is that in spite of people
usually discussing the methods techniques different supplies different apps and programs
one thing that is really never discussed is the impact of our cycle in our productivity and our
motivation throughout the month so i think there's a lot of guilt involved in this conversation
when you go through your cycle during the month you may feel like your sudden drop of productivity
and a sudden lack of performance are basically you being lazy or not working hard enough and that
really brings a lot of guilt into ourselves and makes our relationship with ourselves very toxic
so that's why today i wanted to make this you know chattier video face to face and a little
bit more personal and really shed some light on this issue so basically what we'll be talking
about is the first stages of your cycle how they impact your productivity and your motivation and
what you can do about information and how you can really use that to your advantage
so as you may know this video went through a lot of research i'm not a physician i'm no expert
in these issues but i did a lot of research to provide this information for you so in case you
also want to delve deeper into this research i'll link everything i've read down below so without
further ado let's get out of the kitchen and let's talk about your first stages in the living room
okay so throughout the first stages of your menstrual cycle your body will have tons of
shifts in terms of you know your ability to memorize your motivation productivity
and even some cognitive abilities although of course these fluctuations are very stressful and
they can be very frustrating because you'd like to keep a steady amount of focus and motivation
throughout the month you really need to understand what happens in those four stages of the month
okay so usually as your hormones shift and fluctuate throughout the first stages
of your menstrual cycle you'll really be able to identify in which stage you're at
even if you're not tracking your cycle with you know for instance an app or something of the sort
these fluctuations usually occur from week to week although in for some people those changes are a
little bit blurred out so you really have to know what applies to you in your specific situation
okay so during menstruation which happens in the first week of your cycle your hormone
levels will be very very low fun fact although you may experience a lot of physical discomfort
your ability to reflect and process information are at its highest point in the month although
may experience fatigue and anxiety your ability to reflect and your intuitive thinking will be
at their best okay so the follicular phase is the time between the first day of your menstruation
and the time where you ovulate and as this stage progresses your estrogen levels will start rising
and will peak right before ovulation because this whole stage of your cycle means a big
rise in estrogen levels this also means that your creative energy your creative thinking and ability
to brainstorm will be at their best the good news is as your estrogen rises your anxiety will be at
its lowest point in the month this happens because estrogen helps calm the fear response in your body
overall this combination of high creativity and low anxiety means that the second week of your
cycle is a good time to schedule more creative and problem solving tasks and really brainstorm for
new projects and really get yourself out there okay so in the ovulatory phase which happens
at the end of your second week of your cycle you'll have a peak in something called lh hormone
some studies say that you'll feel a little bit more confident and a little bit more extroverted
this happens because your hormone levels before during and after ovulation
actually supports the verbal part of your brain as well as the communication part of your brain
after ovulation you enter the final phase of your cycle so right after ovulation your
estrogen levels will really drop and then they'll progressively start rising for two weeks also
it's during this time that progesterone will be produced and will have it speak during your cycle
so studies find that progesterone really increases your reactivity which means that during this month
you'll feel like you know everything is a little bit hard you'll feel anxious you'll feel like
you're irritated with people so you'll get a little bit more moody and this is actually what
can really justify the appearance of pms symptoms these premenstrual symptoms can cause bloating
headaches you know mood swings they're terrible and they can really affect your performance and
your productivity of course that during this time your body will inevitably tell you to slow down
so you know really respect that try to leave slower tasks for this part of the month if
you're able to do so like you know organizing reflecting on projects and things like that
and really try to get your head out of the water instead of delving into new projects and new ideas
okay so now that i've just described what happens in your body throughout the month
what can you do about this information and how can it be helpful for you you'll never be able to be
100 productive or be productive all the time even if you want to keep your habit streaks you know
you will not be able to you will inevitably have to break them and that's because your body was not
engineered for perfection your output will always be limited and it will go up and down throughout
your cycle you know and in case you have some independence managing your work and your schedule
really try to come up with a way to leave all creative brainstorming and new projects for the
beginning of your cycle leave more reflection and slower tasks for the end of your cycle
and just try to take care of yourself during menstruation and if you're in a situation
where you cannot manage your work the way you'd like to at least go easy on yourself don't pack
too much into your schedule when your body is not able to deal with the workload of course we don't
live in a world where it's acceptable to stop working for two weeks every single month or to
completely manage everything as we like but the fact that you know what happens in your body and
your mind throughout your cycle really helps you accept those fluctuations those different levels
of productivity you can eliminate the feeling of guilt you can have a less toxic relationship with
yourself and that's already a big step towards you you know be able to produce more and get closer
to your goals and before i leave you today i want to talk a little bit about brilliant
you probably know brilliant by now it's basically a website an app that's built around the principle
of problem solving you learn best while thinking solving problems and putting the theory into
practice in real time and the interesting thing is you are still absorbed in your problem solving
almost in a flow state that before you've noticed you've already learned a new subject recently
brilliant has really invested in increasing the interactivity on their platform to a whole new
level they've recently improved their courses on math fundamentals algorithm fundamentals and
pre-algebra take this lesson for example you might remember the formula but in this lesson
you're moving around the triangles and actually proving that the formula of learning school
actually works brilliant is great for anyone who wants to learn more and is flexible to use
because all you need is your device of choice and that's it you can use it anytime you want in any
schedule regularity or duration and you won't need to memorize long messy formulas and endless facts
just pick a course you're interested in and get started if you feel stuck brilliant will help
you out because they give you the explanations to find out more and learn at your own pace
if you'd like to join me and the community of 8 million learners and educators today
click the link in the description box or visit brilliant.org mariana
i hope you've enjoyed today's video and i'll see you next week bye guys
you