Life moves in cycles—just like nature. Erich breaks down the seasonal rhythms of life across days, months, years, and even 4-year cycles.
Each season has a purpose. Each one repeats at different levels—daily, monthly, yearly, and over longer arcs of life. Understanding where you are helps you align with time instead of fighting it.
Whether you’re waking up to a new day or facing a new chapter in life, this video will help you recognize your current season and what to focus on next.
Winter
What do you do in the winter season of your life?
So winter is about healing and restoration and just kind of chilling out for a little bit. Sometimes literally chilling because it can be cold. But it doesn’t always just occur in the winter.
Every day has a winter season. Every month has a winter season. Every year has a winter season. Every four years there’s a whole year that’s a winter.
It’s because life is kind of fractal in that way. So the winter season in the day is like when you’re asleep in the morning.
A winter season in the day is like when you’re asleep in the morning. Waking up from your slumber. You’re literally cold. You’re starting to want what you want to do that day.
Winter is when you start to want. Winter is about wanting. Restoration, healing, kind of just recollecting and thinking about what happened and what could happen.
And as we’re at the end of winter, currently in time and we’re about to move into spring and kind of recollect about what happened in winter and start to think about what we want to do in spring, which I’ll talk about in a different video. But for this one, let’s talk about what winter looks like every month.
The first quarter of every month is the winter of the month. That’s typically like the first week. And you’ll notice that’s when people kind of coast a little bit. They run reports to figure out what happened last month. They kind of regroup and do retrospectives and just kind of think about what they want to do that month. And then as you get into the next week, that’s the spring week. That’s when you start planning and working forward on stuff.
So what does it mean at the year level? Well, I think that’s one we’re most familiar with. Everybody’s kind of just like indoors a lot, not really feeling like doing a whole lot, but still kind of imagining what you want your life to be like the rest of the year. Maybe you start to plan your summer vacation in your head, but not like putting pen to paper. You’re just kind of thinking about what you want.
And then there’s every four years where you have a whole year where it’s kind of like that, where it’s kind of a reset.
Spring
What do you do in the spring season of your life?
So spring is about preparing and planting—getting things ready for what’s coming. It’s the time when ideas start to take shape, and actions begin to move from thought to form. You’re not harvesting yet, you’re just getting the soil ready and putting the seeds in.
But just like winter, spring doesn’t only happen once a year. Every day has a spring season. Every month has a spring season. Every year has a spring season. Every four years, there’s even a whole year that’s a spring.
Life’s layered like that. It’s fractal—repeating patterns at different scales.
So the spring season in your day is probably mid-morning. You’re fully awake now. Maybe you’ve had your coffee. You’re not just dreaming anymore—you’re starting to do. You’re organizing your day, writing lists, responding to texts. Setting things in motion.
Spring is about preparation. Momentum. Cleaning up after the thaw. Getting rid of what no longer serves and making space for what might grow.
If we zoom out to the monthly level, spring is usually that second week. You’ve reviewed your numbers and reset your mind in week one—that was winter. Now you’re making plans, creating tasks, scheduling meetings, making purchases. You’re starting to move.
At the yearly level, it’s the actual spring season we all know—March, April, May. People start going outside more. They clean their garages, donate clothes, prep their gardens. Internally, we do that too. We start journaling more, goal-setting, planning vacations, even if we haven’t booked anything yet.
And then there’s the four-year cycle. Every four years, you’ll hit a spring year. That’s a year where the old story has ended, and a new one begins. Maybe you moved, started a new job, launched a new vision. Maybe it’s a year where you’re learning and building again, not fully sure what the harvest will look like, but you’re laying down foundations.
Spring is exciting, but it also takes faith. Because what you plant doesn’t grow overnight. And you have to do the work anyway, believing the harvest will come in time.
Summer
What do you do in the summer season of your life?
Summer is when you do the work. You’re not dreaming anymore. You’re not planning anymore. You’re in the middle of it. This is the season of execution—of showing up, day after day, under the heat of it all.
And just like the other seasons, summer doesn’t only show up once a year. Every day has a summer. Every month has a summer. Every year has a summer. And every four years, there’s a whole year that feels like summer.
Because again—life’s fractal. Patterns repeat at every level.
The summer part of your day? That’s your afternoon. You’re fully engaged now. Deep into projects, meetings, writing, building, delivering, moving. You’re not dreaming about the garden—you’re out there pulling weeds and watering what you planted.
At the monthly level, summer usually falls in the third week. That’s the time when all those plans you made earlier in the month get put into action. The emails get sent, the campaigns launch, the meetings happen, and the momentum builds. You’re too busy to think too far ahead—you’re in it.
At the yearly level, summer is familiar—it’s June, July, August. Things are at their peak. Projects launched in spring are moving fast. People are active, visible, vibrant. Vacations happen, yes, but even vacations take planning and doing. Summer is loud, full, and sometimes overwhelming—but it’s when the bulk of progress gets made.
And every four years, you’ll get a summer year. This is a push year. You’re grinding, shipping, building a body of work. You might be getting recognition, or just putting your head down and doing what you said you would. There’s less questioning, more momentum. Less pondering, more producing.
But it’s also where burnout can creep in if you’re not careful. Because in summer, everything looks alive, but everything’s also under pressure—heat, light, growth, deadlines. You’ve got to water what’s growing, prune what’s overreaching, and protect your energy so you make it to fall.
Summer is about sweat. It’s about showing up. It’s about work. Not flashy beginnings or satisfying endings—but the long, necessary middle.
Fall
What do you do in the fall season of your life?
Fall is the season of finishing and harvesting. It’s when the work starts to pay off—but it’s also when things come to an end. Projects wrap up. Cycles close. And you prepare for the next season, whether you’re ready or not.
Just like the other seasons, fall isn’t just once a year. Every day has a fall. Every month has a fall. Every year has a fall. And every four years, there’s a whole year that’s fall.
Life has layers—rhythms within rhythms.
So what does fall look like in your day? It’s the evening. The workday winds down. You’re reviewing what got done, closing the laptop, making dinner. Maybe you reflect. Maybe you’re tired. But the push is over, and now it’s about completion. About winding down with grace.
At the monthly level, fall is the fourth week. You’re tying things up—reporting, invoicing, cleaning up dashboards. Saying, “Did we hit what we set out to do?” You look back, maybe adjust forward. It’s a week of harvest, but also a week of assessment. What worked? What didn’t? What’s left unfinished?
At the yearly level, we know fall—September, October, November. The days get shorter, the air gets cooler, and life slows just a bit. You might feel the urge to finish strong before the holidays. You start preparing for year-end. Fall has this way of making people take stock of what the year has been—and what it hasn’t been.
And every four years, you’ll have a fall year. It’s a year of transition. A chapter closes. A job ends, a move happens, a relationship shifts. Or maybe you finally reach a goal you’ve been chasing. It’s not sad—it’s natural. But it can feel bittersweet. Because fall is both celebration and release.
Fall reminds you to be grateful for what grew. And to let go of what you can’t carry forward.
It’s the season of harvest—and preparation for rest.
How to Plan Your Life in Seasons with the Seasonal Quadrant Planner
To navigate these cycles with clarity and intention, you need a tool that mirrors the natural flow of life—and that’s where the 4-Year U. system and it’s Seasonal Quadrant Planner comes in.
The 4-Year U. is a powerful system that aligns your goals with the natural rhythm of time—transforming daily micro actions into long-term macro results. Grounded in the four timeless quadrants of Rest (Winter), Planning (Spring), Action (Summer), and Evaluation (Fall), this method shows up in every cycle of life: daily, weekly, monthly, and even across years. Whether you’re starting your day, planning your week, or reviewing your year, the Seasonal Quadrant framework helps you decide what to focus on and when, so your energy is always in sync with the season you’re in.
Like Agile methodology or David Allen’s GTD, it’s about doing the right thing, at the right time, with clarity and intention. The best part? It only takes a few minutes a day—and over time, it creates results you never thought possible.
Download the free guide now and start using the Seasonal Quadrant Planner to organize your life, one season at a time.
