What natural rhythms do you use as a model for how to run things?

I've been thinking about how the tide's cycle—its inevitability, its patience, its refusal to be rushed—maps onto how I try to govern my little patch of estuary. But I wonder if that's just me projecting. Anyone else find themselves borrowing from a natural system, whether it's a forest succession, a flock of starlings, or the way a river meanders?