Picture life on a farm in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  (For an example of what I mean, read The Ox Cart Man by Barbara Cooney and Donald Hall)  In winter they worked indoors.  They made baskets and quilted, knitted and whittled.  They worked diligently but the work wasn't as physically demanding as...

Spring.  The snow melted away, they worked the land digging earth, planting, plowing, weeding, and breaking livestock.  It was good for their muscles to get a good workout after months of more fine motor skills and mental work.  But eventually they moved into...

Summer.  Butchering and maintenance become a priority.  Kind of a combination of mental and physical.  The routines change.  The days feel longer and lazy.  More relaxation occured probably than any other time of the year.  Of course for them, relaxation was fishing or berry picking!  Eventually the hot days begin to cool and gives way to...

Autumn.  Harvest.  More physical outdoor work.  Bring the crops in, stock the storehouses, prepare for winter.  Everything is focused on preparation for the long cold winter months.

Our lives are more constant today.  Every week we do pretty much the same thing year round with the exception of shoveling snow or cleaning the swimming pool.  Our general work doesn't change much.  Each week we have a very similar routine as to the week before, and the one before that, and the two dozen before that.

I wonder if that is why we have so much burnout.  I wonder if we don't give ourselves self-imposed monotony.  I wonder if we focused on different things in different seasons, if we'd look eagerly at a change of primary work outside the basics that have never changed.  (People have always had to prepare food daily and clean up afterward.  People have to clean clothes no matter what time of the year and certain housework is done 52 weeks of the year.)

I wonder if this is the answer to my concern on how to prioritize my goals.  Perhaps I need to focus on when is the best time of the year to work on this or that goal.  Perhaps with a bit of variation knowing that it'll be some time before I do this or that thing again, I'll appreciate the job more and do a better job knowing that in time I'll have to put it aside for another goal.