The Season Is the Strategy (Part 4)
Career Ecology in Practice: A seasonal field guide with 24 specific experiments to begin.
Welcome to Part 4 of the Career Ecology Framework.
If you’ve made it this far, you have:
Learned about my career burnout despite working with the best (Part 1)
Identified your Season of Work (Part 2)
Assessed whether your work environment supports or strains it (Part 3)
And possibly felt seen, stuck, or somewhere in between...
Which brings us to the final bridge between reflection and action.
For all my talk about cycles and non-linear approaches, I’ll bring us back to where we started: my career journey.
I moved (back) to San Francisco last September.
Right as Eric, Wally, and I settled into our rental in the Outer Sunset, I started a garden educator program with a teaching garden in my neighborhood. My cohort would snuggle into an outdoor classroom with worn and weathered benches. Something I took away from that program was that a lot of the people who came and taught us got their start at their non-profit or public benefit org by volunteering.
I started volunteering at Middle Lake in Golden Gate Park because it is where I walk my dog nearly every day. It is a loop celebrated by long wooden benches with small plaques remembering loved ones.
Benches have shown up at key moments in my past year: the teaching garden, around Middle Lake, and one behind the local bookstore where I first discovered a lush, layered garden that would eventually lead to my new job.
They’ve been my quiet collaborators, inviting me to be still, take in my surroundings, and not decide yet. Finding work that fit both my skills and my season took longer than I’d imagined. I often felt awkward, embarrassed, and not quite sure how to answer ‘what have you been up to?’.
Looking back, I was deep in a Fall Season: full of reassessment, boundary setting, and letting go. And even when it looked like nothing was happening, growth was happening beneath the surface.
Almost nine months later, I’ve just started a part-time job with a local landscape design company. I’m working on the business and admin side, supporting a team I admire. I first reached out to the owner in January after stumbling upon that magical garden she designed behind the neighborhood bookstore.
At the same time, something else was quietly growing.
In the months leading up to the new role, I’d been building something creative and conceptual: this Substack, the Career Ecology Framework, and the group and 1:1 sessions that have grown from it. It’s been a slow process of layering, combining grounded, outdoor work with operational, systems-focused work.
Aligned work doesn’t always arrive as a single role or title. Sometimes, it looks like tucking a buckwheat in on a rainy day and processing it through writing. I didn’t pick one identity over the other; I made space for both.
Next up in this post, I’ll walk you through small, practical experiments you can try depending on what season you’re in. You don’t need to try them all, pick one that resonates with where you are right now and see what shifts. This is where the framework gets actionable and increasingly specific.
The goal isn’t to take massive action, it’s to take the right action. It’s about taking the right risk at the right time because you’re matching the energy of your season, not the urgency of a capitalist work culture.
And if you want help designing your next season, I offer 1:1 Career Ecology sessions. We’ll map out your current season of work, assess your work environment, and co-create small, sustainable steps toward work that actually fits. Just hit reply if you’re reading this in your inbox, or message me on Substack for more info.
🌱 Spring
Overview
Something is beginning to stir. You’re not committing yet, but you’re paying attention. This season is about exploring new ideas, testing small experiments, and following threads of interest without overthinking. Clarity doesn’t come from sitting still. It comes from trying, noticing, and adjusting as you go.
Your core needs in Spring:
Season-Aligned Experiments:
Own a small project: Start something low-risk at work or in your community that aligns with what you're curious about.
Learn in public: Launch a mini content series on LinkedIn or Substack. Keep it time-bound (4–6 weeks) so it’s lightweight but real.
Take a class: Try something with zero connection to your career. Stretch your brain sideways and see what ideas shake loose.
Refine your role: Clarify your priorities, propose trade-offs, or renegotiate timelines to give yourself necessary breathing room.
Volunteer: Join for a one-off volunteer day with a local organization that sparks your interest and gives you new perspective. Show up, help out, observe.
Build community: DM three people whose careers intrigue you and ask one thoughtful and specific question. No agenda, just genuine interest.
☀️ Summer
Overview
Now you’re in motion. Ideas are clicking, energy is high, and your work is gaining traction. This season is about building on your momentum by deepening your expertise, owning your lane, and strengthening relationships. It’s tempting to say yes to everything, but focus on what matters most.
Your core needs in Summer:
Season-Aligned Experiments:
Run point on something big: Take ownership of a project that stretches and showcases your skills.
Teach what you know: Host a workshop, write a playbook, or mentor someone earlier in their journey.
Refine your role: Identify what’s working, what’s wasting time, and make a pitch to reshape your job around areas where you excel.
Form a mastermind group: Start a monthly meeting with 3-4 peers to exchange feedback, encouragement, and resources.
Raise your hand to speak: Share your expertise at an industry meet-up, pitch a talk, join a panel, or present at an internal meeting to boost your visibility.
Build in breaks: Experiment with productivity tools or methods to sustain your creativity without burnout.
🍂 Fall
Overview
Things are shifting. What used to work may not anymore. This season is about stepping back to reassess, ask hard questions, and let go of what no longer fits. You’re pruning with purpose, refining your focus, and creating space for what’s next to take root.
Your core needs in Fall:
Season-Aligned Experiments:
Do a ruthless audit: Evaluate current roles or projects honestly, deciding which to let go. Ask yourself, “Can I do what I’m already doing, differently?”. There's power in subtle recalibration
Get real feedback: Ask 2–3 trusted people, “What would you come to me for?” (aka “What am I great at?”)
Write it down: Reflect on your experiences, insights, and evolving priorities weekly. Schedule it so it happens.
Step back: Join a short retreat, workshop, or even a structured solo day to gain perspective on what matters to you most.
Plan a sabbatical or break: Book the break now, even if it’s a long weekend. Waiting until you’re burnt out is too late.
Redefine your boundaries: Update the people around you on what you’re no longer available for. If you don’t say it, they’ll assume nothing’s changed.
❄️ Winter
Overview
You’ve stepped back, and that pause is intentional. This season is for recovery, reflection, and quiet repair. You’re not producing or planning. You’re resting, recharging, and slowly reconnecting with what matters. Protect your energy and trust that stillness is a necessary part of sustainable growth.
Your core needs in Winter:
Season-Aligned Experiments:
Rest like it’s your job: Schedule real, deliberate downtime daily or weekly, protecting it from disruptions.
Do low-input reflection: Go for a walk. Sit with a notebook. Listen to the birds chirp. Let ideas come to you instead of forcing insight.
Learn quietly: Queue up podcasts, audiobooks, or articles. No pressure to apply what you hear, just absorb what resonates.
Slash your to-do list: Temporarily scale back responsibilities and communicate clearly about your capacity.
Nurture key relationships: Support your most meaningful relationships through relaxed, low-effort interactions. Stay connected without needing to perform.
Sketch loose plans: Outline general, “maybe next”, pressure-free ideas for your next steps without immediate action.
We’re taught to equate movement with momentum and progress with productivity. We celebrate new beginnings more than intentional endings. However, the shifts that matter most and that quietly redirect our work and ways of being tend to be slow, quiet, and hard to measure.
What I’ve learned, and what I hope this framework helps you see, is that your career doesn’t have to follow a tidy, linear plotline. It can move like a season, looping and layering. You can learn to follow your own internal calendar and have that alone be your marker for success.
So let the season be what it is. And if you’re not sure where to begin, go sit on a bench for a while.
Two ways I can help:
1️⃣ DM: Feeling in between seasons or want to ask a question specific to your life and experiences? Send a DM my way.
2️⃣ 1:1 Coaching: Feeling burnt out, interested in exploring a career change, or just plain stuck? I work 1:1 with people to go through Career Ecology Framework together and design work that feels right for your season. Book an intro call here.
💬 Share in the comments
Option 1: What season are you in and what is one seasonally aligned action you plan to try this month?
Option 2: What would you want a bench plaque to say about you?
Option 3: Answer both! Or, share anything you’d like!
I'd love to hear:
What season are you in and what is one seasonally aligned action you plan to try this month?
I just came across this series on career ecology and devoured it. After a longgggg autumn/winter phase that started during the pandemic, I finally felt a rekindling of my curiosity and motivation this spring. I’ve been savouring it, while also struggling to find a new balance and avoiding a crash & burn kinda situation.