Finally, individuals can live this cadence deliberately. Sports science formalized periodization—alternating phases of base building, intensity, and taper—to peak at the right moment; Lev Matveyev (1965) popularized the model that coaches still adapt today. Careers benefit from similar arcs: seasons of learning, shipping, and reflection prevent chronic overtraining and underrecovery. Even within days, ultradian rhythms suggest pulsed focus and renewal. By treating energy, attention, and relationships as fields with planting and reaping times, you replace guilt with design. Prepare by skill-building and network cultivation, persist through deep work blocks and feedback-driven refinement, and harvest by negotiating raises, publishing results, or launching ventures—then reinvest. Thus, the seasonal frame scales from battlefield to body, aligning ambition with time. [...]
