The 12 Week Year

The 12 Week Year will teach you how to reliably hit your goals by planning in 12-week cycles instead of following our typical 12-month routine.

How are your New Year’s resolutions going right now? I’ve asked this question to people multiple times throughout the years, and it usually falls flat. People struggle with planning annually, but we all do it year after year, only to fail every time. This happens because when we think to achieve something so far in advance, we grow complacent in the middle, thinking we have plenty of time to finish.

Because of this, December is often the best performing month for most businesses. After a year of non-urgency, the last month becomes the catch-up where we push to finish strong. But having that intense drive only once a year isn’t enough.

Peak performers know that smaller planning seasons grant deeper focus and a greater sense of urgency. Athletes were early adopters of what’s known as periodization, or pinpointing a specific skill to improve and working on it in a smaller stretch of time. The 12-week cycle takes this principle, and the advantages that come with it, and applies it to business and personal goals.

With a 12-week pattern, you can get that motivation to sprint to the finish four times a year. You are also setting yourself up to work harder in the intermediate points within the 12-week cycle. The first step is to create a vision of where you want to be. Use that vision to make specific and measurable goals for your 12-week period. Then it’s time to set up a tracking system so you can stay accountable to yourself and others, which we’ll learn about next.

Major businesses track their progression with numbers. Following this same pattern yourself or for your company can give you a massive advantage in making your vision reality. But what do you track and how?

The authors suggest measuring two indicators. Lag indicators measure an end result, like how many pounds you’ve lost each week. Lead indicators are the specific actions you take to reach your lag indicator. For losing weight, a lead indicator could be running a mile every weekday.

Lag indicators are important, but remember that you have less control over some parts of these results. This is why it’s vital to focus your efforts on lead indicators. According to the authors, accomplishing 85 percent or more of your lead indicator actions each week improves the likelihood of reaching your 12-week goal.

The advantage of the 12-week idea is that it’s a lot easier to stay motivated for 12 weeks than 12 months. The hard part, then, is managing your time wisely each week and…