The past year has been difficult for many businesses. For a number of business owners I worked with, especially Black business owners, 2025 was marked not only by financial strain, but by deep emotional and mental fatigue. Direct and indirect attacks on Black people, inflation, and rising costs driven by tariffs all converged at once. I saw many beloved Black businesses close their doors simply because people could no longer afford to spend the way they once did.

Conversations in professional spaces were increasingly about burnout, anxiety, and exhaustion. People were still showing up, still performing, still carrying responsibility, but the year felt heavy.

Personally 2025 was a good year, my poultry farm in Ghana is finally profitable and a pharmacy I invested reported a healthy profit. Nonetheless, I too had my

moments of burnout. Listening to my folks talk made me think about something I’ve been thinking about for years and that’s living through the rhythms of the Akan calendar. 

I first encountered it seriously through the work of Dr. Kwasi Konadu whose writing explores the depth and intelligence of Akan systems of timekeeping. What struck me most was how each day carries meaning and guidance for how to move in cognizance of ecological system.

Traditionally, the Akan calendar was not meant to be lived rigidly or schematically. It functioned as a cultural rhythm, shaping ritual life, social responsibility, and collective balance. But I began to wonder:

What if someone intentionally lived the calendar day by day, paying attention to what each day supports?

What would a week feel like?

What would change about stress, decision-making, and overall mental health?

In a world where people are pressured to operate at 100% every single day, perhaps the problem isn’t discipline, but rhythm.

At the heart of the Akan Adaduanan (42-day cycle) is a simple but powerful structure:

Prefix (6-day cycle) + Day Stem (7-day cycle) = Meaning

• Prefixes describe the condition of life or social posture of the day

• Day stems describe the type of action or process the day supports

Meaning only emerges when both are combined. No day is random, and no day demands the same kind of effort.

The Six Prefixes: The Climate of the Day

Think of prefixes as the background atmosphere of life on a given day.

1. Nwona — Care and Stability

• Settlement, protection, maintenance

• Focus on home, foundations, and preventing harm

• Guiding question: What must be cared for or stabilized?

2. Nkyi — Openness

• No restrictions or taboos

• Honesty, exploration, truth-telling

• Guiding question: What can be addressed openly?

3. Kuru — Serious Responsibility

• Sacred exactness, accountability, integrity

• Leadership and decisions with consequence

• Guiding question: What requires gravity and care?

4. Kwa — Ordinary Clarity

• Lightness, normal work, simplicity

• No drama, no excess burden

• Guiding question: What can be handled plainly?

5. Mono — Renewal and Harvest

• Freshness, growth, new beginnings

• Creative energy and progress

• Guiding question: What is growing or ready to be reaped?

6. Foɔ — Rest and Humaneness

• Rest, charity, contentment

• Cooling pressure and restoring balance

• Guiding question: What needs rest or gentleness?

The Seven Day Stems: The Kind of Work the Day Supports

Day stems describe how energy moves on a given day.

• Wuku — Removal and cleansing (cut, clear, simplify)

• Yaw — Pain and strain (acknowledge discomfort)

• Fi — Emergence and action (step forward)

• Memene — Digestion and nourishment (absorb, understand)

• Kwasi — Reset and purification (realign)

• Dwoɔ — Cooling and peace (reduce heat)

• Bena — Ripeness and maturity (finish, commit)

Three Example Days

1. Nwona–Wuku (Care + Removal)

This day asks you to protect stability by removing what threatens it.

How to live it:

• Clean your workspace or home

• Cancel unnecessary meetings

• Fix a small but persistent problem

• Simplify a routine

2. Nkyi–Yaw (Openness + Pain Acknowledged)

This day allows pain to be named honestly, without restriction.

How to live it:

• Have a truthful conversation

• Address stress at work

• Admit fatigue or frustration

• Review losses without shame

3. Mono–Bena (Freshness + Ripeness)

This day signals that something new has matured enough to be completed.

How to live it:

• Finish an important task

• Send the invoice

• Make a long-delayed decision

• Say yes or no with confidence

Living by rhythm rather than reacting to pressure maybe a wonderful thing to embrace. I’m giving this shot to see how it goes!

Thoughts?