5 Reasons Why Astrology is the Ultimate Productivity Tool

In 2014, I received my first astrology “natal chart” reading. This was my introduction to learning that astrology is more than just your “sun sign.” It sparked my curiosity and led me to slowly learn more about astrology. Since then, I’ve deepened my study of astrology considerably.

In that first reading, I couldn’t make sense of the natal chart, with all of its glyphs and numbers. These days, I consult my chart daily to see how the transiting planets impact my natal chart.

I’ve also come to see astrology as a relevant and useful tool — albeit an unconventional one — that helps my productivity.

Here are five reasons why I find astrology to be the ultimate productivity tool.

(1) Astrology Soothes the Nervous System

Our nervous systems crave certainty. When life feels chaotic and unpredictable, we go into sympathetic overload, also known as fight/flight/freeze mode. In this state, our bandwidth is consumed with finding safety, leaving us little resources for our best cognitive and creative work.

Astrology gives us a measure of certainty, and as close as we can get to having a crystal ball to predict what’s coming so that we can be better prepared.

The astronomy part of astrology is incredibly precise and measurable. We can track the planets’ positions and movements through the sky to the fraction of a degree.

We also know when planets will move, how fast, and what aspects they will make with each other.

We know with certainty where in the sky the planets have been dating back hundreds of years, and we know where they will be far into the future.

Our nervous systems likes things that can be measured and counted. This specificity gives us certainty.

None of this means that we can predict the future, of course. But it helps us see patterns.

When can track the planetary positions and alignments against world and personal events, we start to see patterns.

I like to think of astrology patterns like seasons. In the Northeast, winters are generally cold and we get snow, so it’s wise to prepare for that weather. If for some reasons we don’t get a hard winter with a lot of snow, at least we were prepared.

Astrology is the same. The patterns from the past don’t necessarily predict the future, but they at least tell us what to look out for, which can help us prepare.

(2) Astrology Helps You Connect with Rhythms of Time

We live in a culture driven by linear time: clocks, calendars, and schedules.

Productivity culture breeds expectations about the timelines in which we should expect to see results from our efforts, how long things should take us, or what the path of “progress” looks like.

These expectations set us up for feeling demoralized when our efforts don’t produce the desired results in the promised time frame, when we make progress only to regress, or when we aren’t moving as fast as others.

Tracking the movement of the planets through the signs reminds us that nature operates on a different timeline.

Nature’s timing is cyclical. Not everything moves at the same pace. Some planets move quickly, while others are extremely slow. Planets periodically appear to move backward. Some planetary aspects last for a brief moment while others last for weeks or months.

Eventually, everything comes back around.

Connecting with these natural rhythms can help us create more realistic expectations for how we move through time and for the seasons of our lives.

(3) Astrology Deepens Understanding of Behavior and Habits

Astrology is the study of patterns and archetypes.

The planets are archetypal representations of the different parts of ourselves. They represent the roles we play and the different lessons we are here to learn.

Signs speak to archetypal temperaments and ways of being.

Following the planets through the signs gives us a mirror in which to examine the different parts of ourselves, the areas of our lives, and how we show up.

The more we understand the archetypes, the better we can understand our own behavior and others’ behaviors.

Studying astrology thus becomes a tool for greater awareness.

And with greater awareness we become empowered to change our unhelpful habits.

(4) Astrology Shows You Where to Focus, When, and For How Long

No matter who you are or what you do, you have a lot of areas that need your attention: work or career, health, your home, family, friends, intimate relationships, nurturing your creativity, managing your finances, things you want to learn, places you want to travel, and so on.

One of the biggest challenges of our modern lives is how to create time for all these parts.

To solve this challenge, ancient astrologers divided life into twelve areas, called “Houses.” Each house maps to a sign in the Zodiac.

We can use the position of the sun, moon, and other planets to guide us in where to focus on both macro and micro levels.

In every year, the sun travels through all signs of the zodiac, spending about a month in each sign. Each zodiac sun season invites us to focus on the associated house.

The moon travels through all twelve signs in a month, spending approximately 2.5 days in each sign. This gives us the blueprint for a monthly focus on each area of life.

Aside from the sun and moon, the other planets also move through the signs at various rates. In certain seasons, some signs will host multiple planets at once, creating more concentrated energy there. These planetary seasons may last for a few days, weeks, months, or years. They pull greater focus on the corresponding areas of our lives during those time frames.

As the planets move through the sky they also create angles with each other and with the planets as they were in our natal chart. Significant angles will pull focus to the corresponding areas of our lives.

These various layers give us the framework of where to focus.

(5) Astrology Can Change How We Experience Life

My study of astrology opened new layers when I started to look at my chart on a daily basis. Tracking the movement of the planets reinforced that life is always in motion. Nothing stays the same.

As planets move, they form different angles with each other and with the planets in the natal chart. Each new angle offers a new insight on a situation or circumstance in our lives.

When we look at something from a new angle, we get a new perspective on it. We see different sides of the situation, we expose what might have previously been in our blind spot.

This give us new awareness.

New awareness produces new insights. Insights are about what we see within ourselves.

With that new insight, we look at the world around us through a new lens. We see through different eyes, perhaps through a different filter.

That new lens helps us see the outside world differently.

And when we see the outside world differently, we create new stories about what things mean.

Our story about what things mean changes the story we tell about our experience.

The story we tell about our experience — the meaning we give it — becomes the meaning we find in our life.

This meaning often dictates how we show up and participate in life.

New angles create new perspectives.
New perspectives yield new insights.
New insights give us a new lens.
A new lens changes our vision.
Our vision changes our story.
Our story changes our meaning.
The meaning we create changes our lives.