The 12 Week Year
The 12 Week Year
The 12 Week Year
By Brian Moran
What if you could achieve your annual goals in just 12 weeks? The fact is
that yearly planning is so "last year."
The 12 Week Year will revolutionize your productivity. This is the ultimate
how-to manual, for individuals and organizations seeking to improve their
execution effectiveness.
For most of us, when it comes to planning, it's all about the annual cycle.
However, as we know, a lot can happen in a year, which is why so many
goals and plans fall off the table. Having an accurate schedule and
staying motivated for 365 days is nearly impossible. This book offers an
alternative approach where we divide the year up into three months, or
12 weeks. In so doing, we'll increase productivity and produce tangible
and meaningful results.
How effective do you think traditional annual goal setting is? The truth is
that for eight out of ten people, it's ineffective. On the other hand, The 12
Week Year creates focus and clarity on what matters most, alongside the
need to cultivate a sense of urgency. So, if you feel you could be doing
more in less time, or you're struggling to put your great ideas into
practice, or as a business leader you want to boost productivity, then get
ready to turn your idea of a year on its head, and speed up your journey
to success.
This Briefer summary looks at why 12-week cycles of goal setting, along
with work sprints, trump traditional annual goal-setting methods. We'll
then look at how to jumpstart our 12 week year.
You've probably heard people say that "knowledge is power," but that's
not entirely accurate. Knowledge without action is just a bunch of ideas.
And change doesn't come from ideation alone.
Power comes from what one does with knowledge, and ideas are only
powerful if acted upon. The key to reaching our goals and creative
potential lies in consistent execution. And, the secret to solid execution is
to shift our thinking from annualization to periodization.
With a 12-week pattern, we can get that motivation to sprint to the finish
four times a year. We set ourselves up to work harder in the intermediate
points within the 12-week cycle. As with most things in life, the concept
is simple, but implementation can be tricky. To help us redefine our year
into 12-week cycles, our authors suggest five disciplines that we need.
And to solidify these disciplines, we need to be accountable and act with
integrity.
Begin by writing down what you hope to achieve. Once you've done this,
set deadlines for specific tasks and actions. This will help with time
management and with overall motivation.
How do you cope when things get tough? According to our authors,
routine and structure are how we regain control when things fall apart.
We need plans to guide us through our actions and keep us moving on a
positive trajectory.
There are three aspects of process control that help us to move forward
on our journey towards excellence. The first is a weekly plan, the second
is peer support, and finally, progress measures.
Once we've determined what steps are required to achieve our 12-week
goal, we need to break them down into weekly goals. Our weekly plan
should clearly tell us which daily tasks are necessary in order to generate
the necessary results, and lay the foundation for further progress. At the
beginning of each week, sit down and schedule the plan for the week.
Then, at the end of the week, take the time to review your progress. A
strategic weekly plan means that we focus our energy on a clear strategy
and don't waste time focusing on unnecessary tasks. It also means that
we meet our deadlines.
If you still battle to focus and maintain discipline, look to your peers for
support. Peer support helps motivate us and keeps us accountable. When
we know others will evaluate our work; we're more likely to work harder
and produce higher-quality results.
Mapping out our goals allows us to have a tactical plan, and planning is
essential because it saves us valuable time and energy.
After you create weekly keystone action plans, it's best to focus on
"weekly execution score" as opposed to results. Good execution leads to
good results. This metric matters because far too many people abandon
a good plan because they don't see immediate results.
Keep focused on execution and not results, and keep score of execution.
For some of us, a list of critical keystone actions might look like the
following. 1. Create a sales landing page. 2. Upload a marketing video on
social media. 3. Message five prospective clients. 4. Follow up on actions
from the previous week. At the end of each week, you can score yourself
on how many things you crossed off the list. Over 12 weeks, if you score
85% or more, you'll achieve your goal. However, if you are consistently
underperforming and only achieving scores of 65%, it's unlikely you'll
reach your 12-week goal. Hence, it's best to delegate or work on ways to
improve procrastination habits.
The benefit of 12-week plans is we don't need to wait until the end of the
year to check in on our progress. In just three months, we'll be able to
see how far along in the process we are and make the necessary
adjustments. We then improve and build on what we're doing well over
the next 12-month period.
Our world is full of distractions that pull our focus away from high-priority
tasks. Studies show that most workers lose 11 hours of productivity a
week because of the time it takes to refocus after bouncing back and
forth between work, and distractions.
So how can you structure your time better and stay focused? The lesson
is to time block. We should schedule three blocks of time into our weekly
plan to help us stay focused: strategic blocks, buffer blocks, and
breakout blocks.
Buffer blocks are the time to work on miscellaneous activities that disrupt
workflow. When you group these activities into one chunk of time, you
address the frustration of constant interruptions and wasted time. This is
time to check emails, answer phone calls, meet with employees, etc.
Breakout blocks are three-hour periods to rest and let the mind and spirit
rejuvenate. If you don't recuperate, you're likely to give up on the plan, so
allow time to go for a hike, watch TV, read a book, or spend time with
friends.
In Conclusion
Are you ready to commit? Make your word count. When making explicit
commitments, integrity is on the line. We can't do it all. We need to learn
to be intentional. We become great the moment we prioritize what's
essential to create the life we want and then take small steps toward our
goal.
The plan works because we need a pick-me-up every three months, and
three months are more manageable than 365 days. Begin by starting
small. Think about those things you've always wanted to do. Then
analyze your plans based on the next three months. But, as with anything
in life, it will only work if we put in the work. Moran reminds us, 'The
number-one thing that you will have to sacrifice to be great, to achieve
what you are capable of, and to execute your plans, is your comfort.'