Why I Ditched Hustle Culture And Embraced Feminine Productivity

It’s 6:45 AM on a snowy December day in 2020. I’m curled up on the bathroom floor, my vision blurred by sweat and tears. One hand presses against my womb as I grit my teeth against the searing pain of a cramp, curling instinctively into a fetal position. My other hand fumbles with my phone, setting a twenty-minute timer. Twenty minutes: enough time to walk a mile, power through half a SoulCycle class, or, in this case, wait for the ibuprofen to kick in. These twenty minutes have become a monthly ritual shared between me, the cold bathroom tiles, and my menstrual cycle.

I’d love to tell you that those tiles imbued me with clarity or revelation, but they didn’t. Instead, my mind churned furiously: I don’t have time for this! My call with the executive team is in an hour! A sharp sting of self-condemnation quickly followed: I didn’t finish my workout… again. Looking back now, the 2025 version of me would have compassion for that woman—curled up, counting her breaths, worrying about her schedule. But on that day? Kindness took the day off.

I prided myself on being an overworked overachiever. I was a Product Director at Microsoft, a TEDxSanFrancisco organizer, and an OrangeTheory regular. I got up at 5 AM for a run, arrived at the office before anyone else, and squeezed every ounce of productivity from every moment. Hustle wasn’t just my mindset; it was my identity. I’d laugh off exhaustion with a flippant, “I can rest when I’m dead” while draining my third coffee of the day, Destiny’s Child’s “Independent Women” blaring on my AirPods. In my mind, I wasn’t just running the show; I was running it faster, harder, and more efficiently than everyone else. The notion of slowing down was risible. It simply didn’t fit the script.

Spoiler: Relentless “Hustle” Led Me Straight to Burnout

Day after day, I lurched from soaring achievement to crushing exhaustion. The higher I climbed, the sicker, more depleted, and more disconnected I felt. But my body, spurned and overworked for years, always kept score. Plagued by autoimmune flares, brain fog, and bone-deep weariness, by the summer of 2021, I’d had enough. I finally took my leave of Silicon Valley at the height of my career and the depth of my burnout. In search of tranquility, I enrolled in a graduate program to study Chinese Medicine. I was convinced that leaving the corporate grind would finally restore my health, balance, and joy.

It wasn’t that simple.

Though I left tech behind, I brought my relentless habits with me. At the School of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine, I studied balance and health while pushing myself harder than ever. I packed my schedule to the brim, squeezing in consulting gigs on my “days off.” My mornings were early, my workouts draconian, and my self-care routine dictatorial. Every waking moment—whether work, chores, or downtime—was weighed and measured for productivity. I was still chasing perfection, conflating motion with progress, and prioritizing doing over being. And so the flames of burnout raged on, except now I couldn’t blame my work environment; I was the common denominator.

Burnout Has Become a Cultural Epidemic

For many women, my story will sound familiar. Burnout has become a cultural epidemic. According to the 2021 Women in the Workplace Report, the “burnout gap” between men and women has nearly doubled since 2020, with recent data from Morning Consult showing that half of employed women feel burnout at work. This made me wonder: if burnout is so widespread, how did we get here? And, more importantly, how do we break free?

I started digging. Prior to the Industrial Age, most work was cyclical, with schedules dictated by the seasonal demands of agriculture. Work was shared among families and communities, with natural periods of harvest and rest. During the Industrial Revolution, much of this agrarian work was replaced by factory work, and the unyielding rigidity of the 24-hour clock supplanted the rhythm of nature. The working conditions were hostile and exploitative, demanding shifts of up to 16 hours per day. At this time, women bore an exceptionally heavy cross. Those who worked in factories earned less than half the wage compared to their male counterparts and were often relegated to unpaid domestic work. 

We’ve come a long way since then, with the advent of labor unions and regulation. Still, I can’t help but wonder if the mechanically austere demands of factory labor still echo in today’s workplace. In particular, I wonder if the rigidity of the modern eight-hour workday favors the male disposition, consigning women to a subprime schedule. 

Men and Women Operate on Different Clocks

Men’s hormonal cycles follow a 24-hour circadian rhythm, which remains relatively consistent over their lives. Women’s bodies, however, operate on an infradian rhythm, a biological cycle lasting longer than 24 hours. Menstrual cycles, seasons, and moon cycles are all examples. Hormonal fluctuations in women can impact everything from energy and creativity to cognitive and physical performance. For instance, research suggests that rising estrogen levels during the mid-follicular phase (around a week after your period ends) can mitigate the risk of muscle strain, making it an opportune time for intense exercise.  Other research suggests that elevated estradiol, which usually peaks once before and again after ovulation, may be associated with improvements in spatial and verbal reasoning.

“Our month-long cycle allows us to move through phases where we thrive in connection, creativity, and productivity, while others call us to slow down and restore,” explains Michelle Agudelo, Menstrual Educator and Founder of Haus of Flow. “Rising estrogen fuels our natural energy and creativity, while progesterone encourages reflection and rest later in the cycle.”

Could It Be That the Way We “Work” Isn’t Working for Women?

Could it be that the work culture we inherited, designed originally by men for factory work, isn’t serving women today? Would we be healthier, more creative, and more fulfilled if our schedules mirrored our infradian rhythms? These questions were formative for my journey. I wanted to freeze the burnout and redefine productivity and success with a feminine twist. Eventually, I discovered the power of living in sync with my cycle.

This is the practice of adjusting your routines—work, movement, social commitments, diet—to harmonize with your cycle. It’s rooted in the premise that we, as women, are at our best when we honor the hormonal rhythms of our bodies. As Alissa Vitti explains in In the Flo: Unlock Your Hormonal Advantage and Revolutionize Your Life, “Women have a second biological clock, which is equally as valuable as the 24-hour clock. The 28-day clock can be measured; it is predictable and demands the same respect, attention, and priority as the 24-hour clock.”

For me, listening to my body was an alien concept. I had habitually rejected my period as an inconvenience, numbing cramps with Ibuprofen and overpowering exhaustion with caffeine-fueled fanaticism. Restrictive diets, grueling workouts, and the rabid pursuit of “success” left me disconnected from my body’s needs. “Boss-girl” culture was the zeitgeist, and “self-care” seemed an obscure mantra for underachievers. I could not have been more mistaken.

Cycle Tracking Allows Us to Optimize our Energy, Not Just our Time 

Though the theory of living in sync with my cycle resonated deeply, I was initially apprehensive. Could I really be successful while operating this way? Would my colleagues cast aspersions? Would I remain fit if I relaxed my workout regimen? Despite my doubts, I knew the status quo was unsustainable, so I decided to give it a whirl.

My first tentative step was to adjust my workout routine and social calendar. During the latter half of my cycle, when my energy began to wane, I swapped high-intensity workouts for yoga and lighter strength training. I moderated social commitments, creating space for more introverted “nesting” at home. Then, on the first day of my period, I gave myself permission to rest and nourished myself with warm foods and gentle stretches instead of powering through as usual. Within days, as my period ebbed, my energy began to flow. I crescendoed into circuit training, runs, and evenings out, naturally feeling more extraverted and gregarious.

During my first month of living in sync with my cycle, I observed a remarkable difference. I felt less fatigued, more focused, and in flow. I felt engaged at work. My workouts left me energized instead of drained. As someone diagnosed with endometriosis and PMDD, I often endured bloating, mood swings, and extreme fatigue during my pre-menstrual phase. But even that historically challenging time transformed into a period of intuition, clarity, and reflection. Instead of resisting these cyclical changes, I leaned into them, and everything changed. 

Intuition and Energy are Inversely Related

Living in sync with my cycle helped me see that energy and intuition are cyclical, much like the seasons of the year. Menstruation marks our inner Winter, a time for rest and introspection. The follicular phase mirrors Spring as energy and creativity take bloom. Ovulation, our inner Summer, brings vitality, confidence, and connection. Finally, the luteal phase reflects Autumn, a period of focus, refinement, and preparation for rest. By aligning with these inner seasons, I found myself not only less neurotic and anxious, but more productive than ever.

Just as Autumn trees shed their leaves to prepare for Winter, my inner Autumn invited me to shed emotional baggage, burdensome commitments, and unproductive ideas. By the time my inner Winter, menstruation, arrived, I felt clarity and renewal. Intuition and energy, I’ve learned, are inversely related: when one sets, the other rises. This perspective stands in opposition to the demonizing cliches regarding the “pre-menstrual” or “PMS” phase of our cycles. Every phase has something unique to offer if we’ve got the wisdom to see it. 

As I continue to operationalize these ideas, I finally feel balanced and free. The infernal ferris wheel of burnout that I’d ridden for so long is now a slowly fading fever dream. Today, as a Founder and Podcast Host, I align my work, self-care, and creativity with my cycle. 

As Women, Ignoring our Innate Rhythm is Holding Us Back from Reaching our Full Potential

Looking back, I can clearly see how my old modus operandi of relentless hustle and manic striving was holding me back. By adopting a more feminine way of working and living, I unearthed a different kind of power: one grounded in flow, temperance, and presence. Our infradian rhythms are not a limitation—they’re a superpower. Men and women are different, and that’s something to celebrate. By embracing our cycles and honoring our bodies, we can extinguish burnout, unleash our full potential, and reveal true satisfaction. It starts with small, intentional shifts. Eventually, these changes will accumulate to restore flow,  clarity, energy, and joy.