Miranda Gray – Author of The Optimized Woman
A 28-day Plan to Help You Boost Productivity and Work Satisfaction
Oct 19, 2009
The Optimized Woman is a 28-day plan to help you work with the different phases of your menstrual cycle. We spoke to the author, Miranda Gray, about how it can boost productivity and enhance your working life.
Writing About the Menstrual Cycle
Suite 101: This is your second book about the menstrual cycle. What inspired you to take this path?
Miranda Gray: This is a hard question to answer and over the years I have wondered about it myself! I went from science into art, and when you are expected to be creative every day you become very aware of how your creativity changes. It became obvious that my natural painting styles, expression and ability to focus changed with my cycle’s phases. When I became a freelance illustrator, I had to do a range of tasks, including accounts, marketing and networking, and I began to notice that on some days I was better at certain tasks. My curiosity led me to ask other women if they experienced the same thing. Some shared feedback that made me realise that the need to spring clean a few days before menstruation was not just me being crazy!
Working With Your Menstrual Cycle
Suite 101: The Optimized Woman focuses on optimum times of the menstrual cycle - what are these?
Miranda Gray: Your optimum times are groups of days when you experience enhanced skills and ways of thinking. To help women identify them, I split the menstrual cycle into four phases: Action, Expressive, Creative, and Reflective. Each phase roughly coincides with the four phases of the menstrual cycle – pre-ovulation, ovulation, pre-menstruation, and menstruation.
The Action phase (pre-ovulation) is the optimum time for mental tasks that require focus, concentration and logical thinking. You will find it easier to deal with details and complex tasks, and you will be quicker at these than at other times. It makes sense to do tasks that suit your optimum times when they occur. You will achieve more and perhaps discover a new talent, like I did with writing.
Discover Your Skills and Optimum Times
Suite 101: The book is based on a 28-day plan. How does this work?
Miranda Gray: It offers three sets of daily activities – wellbeing, goal achievement, and work enhancement to show how optimum time skills can be used positively in these three areas. There are positive skills in every phase, which can be applied practically to everyday situations.
Although the plan is based around 28 days, it enables the reader to jump forward or repeat days if her cycle is shorter or longer. The ideal outcome is for the reader to create her own monthly plan that makes the most of her cyclic optimized abilities.
Adapting the Plan to Your Own Cycle
Suite 101: Does the plan still work if a woman is on the contraceptive pill or if she is premenopausal and her cycle is changing?
Miranda Gray: Women on the pill can use the plan, but they may not experience as wide a range of changes as those with a natural cycle. Even with a natural cycle, women’s experiences can differ, so the emphasis of the plan is to experiment and adapt it to your own cycle. The plan can also be used as a guide for perimenopausal women, and by mothers who wish to help their daughters to discover their own optimum time skills to create a positive image of their menstrual cycle.
Using the 28-day Plan Practically
Suite 101: How has the plan helped you to discover new skills and build your own businesses?
Miranda Gray: In my first business, I had to allocate tasks to my phases simply because they were the only times I could manage to do them! Over the years, however, I have learned how to actively use the phases to bring the best of my skills to the job at hand.
When writing a book, I plan, structure and edit in the Action phase because my logical thinking is good. I explore my ideas with others in the Expressive phase because I am better at communicating my feelings and receiving feedback. I write with a passion in my Creative phase, and then I rest and reflect on whether the book is going in the right direction in the Reflective phase. I exceed expectations when I fit the task to the phase, and it gives me a huge boost in self-confidence, self-acceptance and fulfillment.
Cultural Attitudes Towards the Menstrual Cycle
Suite 101: You have been travelling around the world to spread the word about your book. Have businesses been receptive to your ideas and approach?
Miranda Gray: It’s interesting that 14 years after my first book on the menstrual cycle, the subject is seen as "taboo." It's still difficult to get women interested, let alone mainstream press and publications, politicians and businesses, and I have set myself the challenge of bringing it into the worlds of wellbeing, life coaching, and the workplace as a positive tool and resource. I am actively looking for small, mainly female businesses to take part in trials using the concepts outlined in The Optimized Woman.
The concepts have created the most interest in Australia, Canada and Spain. I had some wonderful feedback during a recent trip to Australia and Japan and will be putting together a facilitators’ training course. It has been interesting to see the cultural differences in attitudes towards the menstrual cycle. Even in English-speaking countries there are differences between women’s views in the city and those in the country.
Start by observing your own menstrual cycle and making notes on when you feel most productive, and try to tailor your weekly tasks to the different phases of your cycle. Ask your female friends and colleagues for their observations. It is a case of working smarter - not harder!
Resources
Further information from Miranda Gray on how to work with your menstrual cycle.
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