🍂 Embracing Rest, Change, & the Natural Rhythm of Creative Work

MIDJOURNEY PROMPT: looking behind a designer working at her desk on a wide-screen monitor. This desk is set in a landscape that has four seasons starting with spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Creativity Isn’t Linear—It’s Cyclical. Unlike production work, creativity has its seasons:

• Ideation: fast, fun, chaotic

• Execution: focused, detailed, grinding

• Revision: vulnerable, critical, refining

• Release: celebratory, exhausting, reflective

• Recovery: essential, often overlooked

Each phase demands different energy. Trying to force one mood across all seasons is a fast track to burnout and mediocrity.

Leaders Set the Tempo

Just like a gardener doesn’t plant in a frost, creative leaders need to know when to: Push, Pause, Let the team breathe.

That means:

• Giving your team a creative “reset” after big campaigns

• Planning for low-pressure weeks after high-stakes launches

• Building in time to explore and play during slow periods

• Not expecting the same output 365 days a year

When you acknowledge the rhythm, you make space for more sustainable—and more inspired—work.

The Beauty of the Predictable Cycle

Over time, your team learns the beats:

• Q1 Product launch? October sprint.

• Holiday planning? Starts in July, like it or not.

• Everyone is on PTO? Spring break in April will mean short-staffed.

• That weird lull in June? Perfect for internal work.

And the more you talk about these seasons as natural, the more your team can pace themselves—mentally and emotionally.

They know what’s coming. They brace. They rise. They recover.

That’s not just good leadership. It’s creative maturity.

Rest Is Productive

Too often, we treat rest like a reward. Something you earn after doing enough. But rest is a critical part of the cycle. Without it, the next round of work won’t bloom the way it should. Encourage it. Normalize it. Model it.

Let your team:

• Actually take the PTO

• Close their laptop at 5 without guilt

• Take walks between meetings

• Say “I need a breather” and mean it

Creativity Has Seasons. So Should Your Team.

Every great idea starts as a seed. It needs time to take root. And it can’t bloom every single day. So build a creative culture that honors the slow season. The reset. The regeneration. Because the best work? It doesn’t come from pushing harder. It comes from knowing when to pause and prepare for the next bloom.