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The 6-Week Cycles sizzle reel.
Back to all interestsA way of living · 10 years running
For ten years I've run my life in six-week cycles. Six weeks of intense, focused effort, then two weeks “off” to plan for the next cycle. It is the single most consequential decision I've made to live with more intention.
The cycle, in pictures
One cycle: six weeks on, then two weeks off.
The case
Vacations don't fix burnout. Vacations recover from burnout. The trick is to build rest into the working year so the recovery never has to start from a deficit.
What the two weeks mean
At its best, two weeks off means completely stepping away, from work, from everything, and actually letting myself enjoy being away.
After ten-plus years, these two weeks have become the time my partner and I look ahead and plan our vacations. It's a stretch I know won't get swallowed by projects, because I work hard not to let myself get overwhelmed by them in the first place. Before a cycle closes, I finish the client work, take the meetings, and make sure everyone knows exactly what's been done, so nobody spends the break wondering where something is. It's really just being thoughtful and setting expectations. And running it over and over, through the good stretches and the lean ones, turned into something bigger than rest. It became a habit of looking back: at my life, at the decisions I've made, and at where they've actually gotten me.
The math on a decade
Over ten-plus years of working this way, those two-week breaks add up to more than 120 weeks. What a gift to the life of Joe Martin, one I absolutely appreciate past me for giving.
They weren't always about turning off from everything. More than anything, it was a mindset shift: the idea that things didn't have to feel as rushed during those stretches. That little bit less stress, over and over, for a decade. How amazing is that. What a gift to myself. Thank you, past me.
The talks
A soundtrack for each one
Every cycle gets its own playlist. It fills up over six weeks with songs I catch out in public, records I've been living with, tracks people recommend, sets I hear live, and even songs recorded by friends.
You'll find some fun local artists in there too, like Rakido and his hit "Facebook Pictures."
Browse the playlists on SpotifyTen years of cycles
The names have a backstory. When I first started living in cycles I was on a big Hamilton kick, so I named the early ones after presidents, until I realized I'd run out (and might not stand behind every name on that list). So thanks to my work in tourism, I switched to naming each cycle after a city somewhere in the world. It gives me six weeks to learn about a new place, and every so often I actually end up IN that city during its cycle. Like a golden birthday, but a golden cycle. Cities with a ♫ have a playlist you can open.
* a cycle I actually made the trip for.
In the press
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