Cycling is a progression technique I developed to combat, or more accurately, roll with the tides of life to ensure that I am always making progress despite changes and setbacks. Cycling is rotating your activities that you use for progression and growth in such a way that whenever circumstances prevent you from engaging in one, you can use that situation as an opportunity to engage in another activity. So, even if you are unable to progress in one realm, you have another one that you can center your focus on and keep yourself growing.

Everything has cycles. The seasons, day and night, even life itself has cycles of highs and lows. You will go through change and things will pop up that will take you for surprise. The way we stay on the upswing of progress is not by fighting these changes, but by flowing with them and using them as just another opportunity for growth.

Let me provide an example. I used to be extremely gung-ho about my martial arts training. I would train everyday despite how my body felt, whether or not I was ridiculously sore or I hadn’t gotten enough sleep or nutrition. Although it served to strengthen my perseverance and willpower, sometimes it would hinder my actual progress because I wouldn’t get the most out of my training and reluctantly, realized that gung-ho mentality wasn’t sustainable.

What I did was cycle my other hobbies into my schedule in order to let my body get the rest it needed. On days I needed to rest, I would focus on my art or on my writing. If I had a work-heavy week that prevented me from working out or getting enough sleep, then I would read and write and then get the sleep I needed.

If I am traveling for the day and I can’t work out, then I draw and read during flights and layovers. If I’ve been working out and been busy at work, then I cycle my art and writing to a day when I have the time available. When I get injured and I need to heal, I dive deep into my art and writing. If I’m mentally drained from work, then I go to the gym and let my mind rest and work my body.

The point is to be adaptable. I used to be of the belief that I had to work on each of my interests every day, but it’s not sustainable. That is the fast track to burning out. When I was working construction part-time and I was exhausted physically by the time I got out of work, it wasn’t a smart idea to try and push myself through a hard workout. So maybe I would stretch and then work on my art and give my body a rest and work my mind.

I had a friend who was having a difficult work week and he told me he didn’t have the energy to exercise like he usually does and also work on his music. He was feeling so guilty about not working out that he lost motivation to work on his music and found himself watching TV to distract himself from his failure.

I advised him to focus on his music that week and then roll back into exercise the next week when his workload was lighter so that he would still be growing but not overburdening himself. His eyes lit up and he promised me he would do exactly that. A week later he called and informed me that he made a significant amount of progress on a song he was making, and the following week he got back to working out, and he felt recharged and still made time for his music.

My friend was overrun by guilt because he wasn’t doing what he told himself he would do, and that guilt drained him mentally and physically to the point that he wasn’t progressing at all. It wasn’t all his fault. Sometimes life throws you a heavy work week or another inconvenience that prevents you from doing everything you want to do. By cycling, he let go of the guilt of not working out and freed up that energy to work on his music.

There are lots of ways to cycle progress, but I think it’s important to have physical activities as well as mental and artistic activities to cycle through because the diversity is what makes for a more adaptable cycling routine. If your activities are only mental or only physical, then depending on your work, you might burn yourself out because that area is already overtaxed and then you end up wasting time on activities that fail to serve your progression.

If you’re feeling burned out and find yourself wasting your life in front of Netflix, find yourself some fulfilling activities that serve your growth and use cycling to engage yourself in the appropriate activity for the situation.

Life is short, and I don’t know about you, but I want to get the most out of life and become great at the things I enjoy. However, too much of a good thing can sometimes be a bad thing and that is why I keep a diverse array of activities I enjoy, and I cycle as is appropriate.

Don’t spread yourself too thin. I have four different activities I focus on for growth so that I can narrow my focus and energy to channel it into those things and do the best I can at each one. If you have too many things that you’re giving your attention to, then you might become good at those things, but never great. Having eight activities to cycle and giving each an hour will not show as many results as having four activities and giving each one two hours of your time. Over the course of the year, you might be good at those eight things, but you could be great at those four things instead.

Cycle and keep your progress going. If you do it wisely, then there is always an opportunity to grow despite the circumstances. Stay adaptable and don’t let circumstances dictate the outcome of your life. Just as things change and present obstacles, they will change again and present opportunities.

Here at the Eclectic Method, we only see opportunities. Obstacles are opportunities, they don’t stop you, they provide another way or get hurdled. By being a diverse and adaptable human being, you can become unstoppable. You don’t have to condemn yourself to having only one way to grow. Nothing can truly stop your growth if you are growing in many ways. If the actual goal is growth, no situation or circumstance can stop you when you cycle.