12 Week Year
Resolving Resolutions
Have you set New Year’s resolutions only to give up on them halfway through the year? I know I have, well, maybe not given up, but surely know in the back of my head there isn’t a way I can make it by the end of the year. This practice is all too common these days, but I was fortunate to have a clarifying moment in Arizona while we were on a family vacation.
We had a week full of fun, working by the pool, and relaxing time with my husband and son. It really showed what our lifestyle could be like if we were able to get our business up and running. Okay, maybe it isn’t all margaritas by the pool, but it IS time and financial freedom to make those choices.
You might be thinking at this point, great, you had clarity, but how does that help me reach my goals? Let me tell you! See I’m great at dreaming relatively big, writing lofty goals, breaking them down by month and even by week, but then when it comes to completing them I always end up in the same spot. Some get completed and others don’t, but at the end of the year I didn’t quite make it to the final goal. So what makes this year different?
The 12 Week Year
I read a book called the 12 Week Year and it changed my world. The concepts are not revolutionary, there are no silly gimmicks you need to complete, but it DOES clearly explain why most tend to fail reaching their goals come December and why implementing a 12 week year works. I was VERY skeptical, but stay with me while I give you a high level overview so you can start putting this into practice for your daily life TODAY.
The 12 week year is great because it creates urgency where you may not have had any. With normal goal mapping you usually spread your goals out over the entire calendar year, or annualized planning. The problem with this is that you always feel like you have a plethora of time to complete your goals. In January you have a full 12 months ahead, but by March if you haven’t continued and caught up you only have 9 months until you get to the point there are only a few months left and the goal is so overwhelming you give up.
Sound like you? Or feel like you are always so busy, but never feel like you made any progress? Time is the most wasted resource we have and I once heard someone say if you think you don’t have enough time to change then it isn’t a priority. Ouch!
Utilizing the 12 week year you are able to avoid these common pitfalls.
Dive Into the 12 Week Year
Step 1 - Your Vision
It all starts with painting a vivid picture of your ideal life. Imagine your wildest dreams, what does your life look like? Where do you live? Do you travel? How much time freedom do you want? These are some examples of creating your compelling vision. Elaborate as much as you can.
Step 2- The Plan
Have a plan and write it down! Even if you think you know what you need to do you still want to create a plan otherwise it leaves your time up for interpretation and allows for the unexpected things to take over. In other words, it allows for you to live a reactive life instead of a proactive one. When you are reactive you react to every email bing, text message, phone call, Facebook notification, but if you are proactive your time is planned and you batch your like tasks.
“When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit, but when you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”
To create your proactive plan set your goals for the 12 week period. Your 12 week goals should work toward your big picture vision, but when completed during the period would be considered a huge success.
Most annualized plans tend to be objective-based planning, whereas the 12 week year is more activity-based. So once you have your goal set for your 12 weeks you need to break it up into what Brian Moran calls Lead Indicators.
These are action steps that produce the end result, ie. sales calls, referrals, follow up. By doing these steps you will move yourself forward versus saying your goal is to increase sales by 10%, which would constitute a lag indicator. Remember, you do not have control over your results ONLY your actions.
Step 3 - The Process
Once you have completed the previous steps you are ready to start each week you know what you need to complete. At the beginning of the week you will take 15 minutes to review the previous week on what worked, what didn’t, and where you can improve. Also, at the beginning of each week you will fill in your calendar with Strategic Time Blocks, Buffer Time Blocks, and Breakout Blocks each day.
Strategic Time - 3 hour block of uninterrupted time where you are working specifically on your goals/action steps. You should have one of these a day.
Buffer Time - 30 minute to 1 hour blocks for unplanned and low value activities like answering emails, voicemails, phone calls. You should have 1-2 of these planned a day.
Breakout Time - 3 hours block to work on things other than work! Everyone needs some downtime to provide clarity and you should have one of these planned a day.
Step 4- REVIEW
Make sure you are doing the important step of reviewing each week. Get a partner-in-crime to work on 12 week plans with you, but most of all DON’T GIVE UP! You will go through various stages of crazy ups and crazy lows where you will hit the valley of despair. This is where most people quit and decide it is easier to give up than to continue pushing outside of your comfort zone. However, if you don’t quit you will come out the other side with flying colors because you have been taking action little by little each day.
Are you willing to try the 12 week year method? Tell us in the comments below.
Links
Want to pick up a copy and start your year off right? You can check it out below (affiliated).
