The Biorhythmic Cycles of a Blogger

I started blogging in March 2010 – At a moment when I experienced something deep, and wanted to capture it in my own way. Along the way, I have evolved and transformed as a blogger, writer and more importantly as a human-being…

After about a year in blogging (in March 2011) when I looked at my blogs, I noticed several interesting patterns:
1) There were times when the quality of ideas to blog about was brilliant; and these repeated in periodic cycles
2) There were times when the quantity of blogging ideas were almost infinite; and again these repeated in periodic cycles
3) There were times when I was able to generate superior quality content for one / many ideas at a phenomenal speed (efficiency and effectiveness); and again these repeated in periodic cycles
4) There were times when I got neither ideas nor was able to write – no matter how hard I tried; and again these repeated in periodic cycles

And the above had really nothing to do with time (lack of OR availability) – In fact, since I love blogging I always all find and make time to blog – in spite of two full time jobs – One as a part of my corporate employment and one as a mother 

I was wondering if there is any scientific explanation for this. Anything which can predict and possibly give me answers for these repeated cycles?

And that’s when I learnt about Biorhythm…

What is Biorhythm?
Biorhythm is an attempt to predict various aspects of a person’s life through simple mathematical cycles.

According to biorhythm principles, a person’s life is affected by rhythmic biological cycles which affect one’s ability in various domains, such as mental, physical, and emotional activity.

These cycles begin at birth and oscillate in a steady sine wave fashion throughout life; thus, by modeling them mathematically, a person’s level of ability in each of these domains can be predicted from day to day.

Most biorhythm models use three cycles: a 23-day “physical” cycle, a 28-day “emotional” cycle, and a 33-day “intellectual” cycle

This can be represented pictorially as below:

(Src: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorhythm )

What’s the link between Biorythm and Blogging?
I am inherently a left-brained person – logical, analytical and scientific. And most importantly, look for supporting data in any hypothesis or theory. So I decided to consciously observe and note down my own blogging patters with the biorhythmic framework as inscribed above…

My blogging cycles are depicted below:

Points to Note
1) Above data has been tracked from Apr 2011 to Jan 2012 – for a period of 9 months
2) The three key criteria for observation, analysis and evaluation were:
a. Quality of Ideas
b. Quantity of Ideas
c. Quality of Blog Output – Efficiency and Effectiveness
3) For ease of analysis, a rating and legend was compiled as below.
a. Quality of Ideas
i. 10 – Exceeds Expectations
ii. 5 – Meets Expectations
iii. 1 – Below Expectations
b. Quantity of Ideas
i. 10 – More than 30 blog ideas
ii. 5 – 10 to 30 blog ideas
iii. 1 – Less than 5 blog ideas
c. Quality of Blog Output – Efficiency and Effectiveness
i. 10 – Excellent
ii. 5 – Average
iii. 1 – Poor
4) Data was captured on a weekly basis
5) All the above ratings were based on my blog data followed by a detailed analysis

Key Observations, Learning’s & Insights
1) There was a cyclic pattern across all the three parameters
a. Quality of Ideas
b. Quantity of Ideas
c. Quality of Blog Output – Efficiency and Effectiveness
2) The best pieces of blog output was probably generated when there was a high in my emotional cycle or intellectual cycle or a combination of both – Of course, in hindsight the topics that I wrote about varied significantly
In times of an emotional high in the cycle – My blogs probably touched my heart and yours
In times of an intellectual high in the cycle – My blogs probably tickled my gray cells and yours
3) At times of an intellectual or emotional low in the cycle – I probably was unable to blog or even think of what to blog about. And again this was in cycles

Ending Words of Wisdom:
• In my view, there is a biorhythmic cycle for a blogger
• If you are aware of these cycles in your individual context, you will be better equipped to plan and schedule your blogging accordingly

Do you also experience these biorhythmic cycles? Leave a comment to let me know….
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This post is dedicated to my daughter – Naisha. My journey as a blogger started at about the same time as her journey on the earth…