It All Starts in Q4: How Human Hibernation Effects Productivity
Dec 22, 2023
As-Salaam-Alaikum everyone! Welcome back to Muslim Women Invest.
In my business, I have every client start Q4 in September…not October.
This is a new concept for many people, but I firmly believe this is the best way to create a smooth transition into the new year. So why do I do this? Let me explain…and by the end, you’ll be wanting to do the same!
The Concept of Human Hibernation
While I operate in the world of finance now, my background is in medicine. And because of that, I know that there's a very, very important aspect of human biology that we often forget: wintering, or human hibernation.
Wintering is something that all living things—including humans—go through, though we tend to think of it in the context of wildlife.
Generally speaking, every living creature hibernates in winter—or, if they don’t properly hibernate, they at least go into a sort of energy-saving mode. This allows them to enter spring with a “spring” in their step; it gives them the energy to be more productive during the spring and summer months, when there is more daylight to work with.
Everything is interconnected in this world, including our relationship with our environment…and that includes our need for sunlight.
During winter, the days are short and the nights are long. As a result, most creatures react by going dormant. Trees shed their leaves. Many animals hibernate. But what do humans do?
With human hibernation, we’re supposed to be saving our energy and pacing ourselves in the winter months. But instead, because a lot of us are not aware of the concept of human hibernation and wintering, we try to push through the body’s natural inclination to rest in favor of pushing harder for productivity.
Even if you understand the pattern of human hibernation, there’s still a misconception out there that the more you run yourself into the ground, the more productive you are. Or the busier you look, the better.
This is absolutely false. But because we buy into this idea, we don’t take the time to rest that we need…and that’s how we end up too burned out to meet our goals for the new year.
Get a Head Start
So, why start in September? Because it not only gives us a head start, allowing us not to cram so much into the first couple months of the year, but it also takes some of the pressure off to change everything right on January 1st.
My clients saw huge growth when they actually entered the new year because they started in September. It allowed them to get the head start they needed, but it also allowed me to give 100% effort to my clients, because my body hadn’t yet gone into wintering mode.
This allowed me to not only respect my body’s needs, but it also allowed me to respect my clients and what they need, even if they don’t ask for it.
Another factor is that this head start allows for a certain margin of error.
With that extra time, I’m able to identify the problems that my clients have in their financial portfolios or things that need work going into the new year without handing those problems off to them right before they need to be fixed.
If you jam everything in at the end of the year, you’re not only disrespecting your body’s needs, but you’re increasing the pressure on you (and your clients!) to do everything right the first time, because there won’t be time to do it over. Or, if something already has an error, you’re pushing that onto them last-minute when it may need to be corrected by the beginning of the year.
By starting in September, you allow for a more relaxed finish to the year without any last-minute scrambles to correct anything.
Start in September…or as Soon as You Can!
I personally believe that implementing Q4 in September is the best thing you can do for your business, for your studies, or for any kind of goal. But even though we’re in December now—and well into human hibernation season—you can still get a bit of a jump start on your goals to prevent overwhelm in Q1.
If you have a New Year’s resolution, I have a suggestion: try not starting January 1st. Try starting in December instead. I can guarantee you will see a difference in your ability to stay consistent with it.
For example, if you have a New Year’s resolution to become more cinancially literate…I can help you start right now. You can find the link to my free financial literacy classes, hosted on Sundays, below! Don’t wait until January 1st to begin!
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Don't wait until 2024 to begin pursuing your goals! Join me every Sunday for my financial literacy class: https://my.demio.com/ref/RCenuu9luQi3AcXT
If you're ready to transform the trajectory of your life and the lives of your family members through investing, book a consultation with me: https://www.invest4lifemk.com/services
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