Work Like The Duffers

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for Netflix for one month so I could re-watch the first 4 seasons of Stranger Things and then watch the final 5ᵗʰ season, which had just finished airing on TV.

It was quite the binge-fest, which was good because Stranger Things is one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Luckily, there was also a follow-up 2- hour documentary called" One More Adventure" which was all about the making of season 5, and it was fascinating to watch.

Stranger Things was created, written and produced by the Duffer brothers, Matt and Ross. The brothers were extremely hands-on in every aspect of making Stranger Things.

One of the many things I found interesting in the documentary was that they had stand-ins for every main actor, and they would run through every scene repeatedly with the look-alike stand-ins, going over and over every small detail until they got it perfect. Then they'd bring in the main actors and show them the footage of exactly what they had to do, where they had to stand and which direction they wanted them to look in. And thanks to all the previous work with the stand-ins, the crew had all the lighting and camera angles prepared.

As I watched it, I thought about what a great idea it was to do all the preparation beforehand because sometimes they realised that what they'd written in the script didn't work in actual execution, so they had to change things on the go.

And I realised that it's the same when I outline a book before writing it. I begin with my ideas (script) and then flesh them out into an outline. And this is where I find out if something is missing, or the order of things doesn't make sense, or if there's something that I've left out.

When I'm writing a short story, it's fun to 'pants' it without an outline, and even if it goes wrong, I don't have to go back far to fix it.

But when I'm working on a book, it's a project that's too big for errors, and I don't want to get it wrong or leave something out.

I prefer to work like the Duffers on big projects and get everything in place before the final 'take.'

Not only is it helpful, but it makes the actual writing a lot more fun.

The One Month Author
How to Write a Book Faster & Better

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My 2026 Writing Plans Update

A couple of weeks ago, I told you that I had plans for what I would be doing this year, and that I’d let you know how it was going.

I got my ideas for my 12-month plans from a book I read called “The 12 Week Year.”

The book is about having 12-month goals and breaking them down to 12-week goals for a shorter deadline.

At first it seemed impossible because it means reducing what you do in one month down to one week, and reducing what you plan to do in one week down to one day.

The first thing that came to my mind was that most people don’t even make New Year plans that way (and I’m just as guilty). People have goals of what they want to achieve over the next twelve months, but they don’t break them down into the steps they need to take on a monthly/weekly basis. They just say that they’re going to do something, then go at it like fury for a few weeks (or less) and then forget about it. Or they say all year that they’re going to do it, but they don’t start until they realise that December isn’t all that far away anymore.

In contrast, The 12-Week Year tells you to write down your goal, or goals, and then work out a timeline for how you are going to achieve it.

So, for instance, you might say that you want to lose weight. You set a target of losing 12 kilos, which means that you need to lose one kilo every month. But if you break it down into 12 weeks instead of 12 months, it means you need to lose a kilo a week, because a month becomes a week.

Losing a kilo a month would be easy because all you’d have to do is cut back on desserts, drink less alcohol and maybe drink more water instead of sugary drinks.

But losing that much weight in a week would mean more changes. So you might also reduce your portion size at meal times, change what you eat to reduce fat in your diet, and maybe go for a walk every day. Those are the things that I would do.

You might also have a goal to write a 100,000-word novel in 12 months, which would mean writing around 400 words a day, five days a week, for 50 weeks, plus 2 weeks to proof and edit.

But when you reduce it to just 12 weeks, it means writing 10,000 words a week for 10 weeks, plus 2 weeks for proofing and editing. And when you break it down even further, writing 10,000words a week and working 5 days a week means writing 2,000 words a day.

The question then is, are both these things doable at the same time?

The answer is yes, absolutely, they are.

I made two 12-week plans. One to lose weight and one to write a novel.

I wrote out my plan by the month, week and day, and while it seemed like a lot, it’s extremely doable. And both are so good for me in many ways. By changing my diet, I’m eating less and eating better, and my meals are smaller and mostly grains and vegetables. I’ve cut out snacking in the evenings and started eating fruit instead of sugary snacks and desserts. I’ve also cut back to drinking almost zero sugary soft drinks, and I’ve been drinking soda water with a slice of lime in it instead, and herbal teas. Not only is all this helping me to lose weight and stick to my weekly weight-loss goal, but I feel better, I don’t feel full all the time (which was awful), and I’m saving money.

Sticking to my daily writing meant creating a schedule and sticking to it, which I’ve done with only one or two slip-ups. Writing regularly every day on my novel is mentally good for me too because I get lost in what I’m writing, which is always a nice break for my crazy monkey mind, and the short deadline of only 12 weeks helps me to stay on track and on target.

The 12 Week Year is a book I’d recommend for anyone who wants to achieve more than they’ve ever done before. And because goals are achieved in just 12 weeks, it can be repeated three more times in a year, so you can quadruple your output.

Not only that, but at the end of each 12 weeks, there’s a week off to rest and plan your next 12-week goals, because there are 4 x 13-week periods in a year, so that means 12 weeks of focused work, then one week off, and then repeat.

I find that tight deadlines are easier to stick to because they don’t leave room for procrastination or wasting time with distractions.

It says in the book that successful people don’t achieve more because they know more, but because they execute better than their competition.

I’m finding that consistent execution substantially increases my results, not because I’m working harder, but because I’m focusing on the activities that matter the most. The tight 12-week deadline is helping me to work faster and with more focus, and helps me maintain a sense of urgency to get things done.

Working this way felt (a lot) uncomfortable at first because it’s not how I usually work, but I figured that nothing great is ever achieved by staying in our comfort zones.

And best of all, I’m ahead of schedule on my novel and on my weight loss (not that I have much weight to lose). Writing a book isn’t a huge task, but I have a definite deadline, and I also have other writing projects to complete simultaneously. So far, I’m managing it all.

I’m thinking of this as a 12-Week Challenge. And I do enjoy a challenge. I’ve also devised a few household tasks to complete within the 12 weeks, so it’s been ‘game on’ for the last few weeks.

But as I’d gotten completely out of whack with my writing over the last few months, this 12 Week Year was exactly what I needed to get me going again.

And I’m loving it.

Achieving More Without Goals

"Writers don't need more goals, they need better habits."

~ Patty Robinson

I'm always looking for ways to get more done, but I also don't want to work longer or harder. In my search for answers, one thing I did learn was not to plan any goals.

Don’t get me wrong, goals are great, and I always have plenty of them. Currently, my goals are to lose 6 kilos (approx 14lb or 1 stone) in 12 weeks (which I began 6 weeks ago and I’m 3.1kg down, so I’m on track), to finish my latest novel in the next 6 weeks, and to finish making curtains and roman blinds for our new house in the next 6 weeks.

All these things are doable because I'm not pushing myself too hard to reach these goals. And the reason I'm not pushing too hard is that I planned a process to follow to reach my goals. This means that once I know the process, I no longer need to remember the goal.

Goals are great because they provide direction for where I want to be. But I don't plan the goals. I plan a short-term process to get there because a short-term process leads to long-term results.

I don't think about my goal to write a book, I plan to write every day.

I don't think about my goal to lose 6kg, I'm following a 1,000-calorie, high-fibre diet every day, with a weekly weight loss of 0.5 kilos.

 I don’t think about my goal to have the curtains and blinds finished in 6 weeks. I worked out the steps involved in working on them each week, and now I’m following the steps.

Once I have my processes mapped out, all I need to know is what I'm doing each day or week, so it's easy to follow, and it’s way less stressful than trying to aim straight at the goals. I forget about the goals and just concentrate on what I have to do each day.

I find that keeping things simple by focusing on a daily process means I can enjoy the present moment. I don’t have to think about my goal. I just have to follow my daily processes and hit my weekly targets. 

One of the important things about working this way is that my goals are short-term, so I don’t have to dedicate the rest of my life to them. I just think of what I want to do, give myself a doable deadline, plan out the steps to get there, then live in the moment and work my way through the steps, week by week, day by day, for the time allotted.

And with my processes in place, I know that what I’m doing each day and week means that my curtains and blinds will soon be finished and hanging at the windows, I’ll be 6 kilos lighter by the end of next month, and my book will be written and ready for publishing.

And my daily writing habit is something that will continue long after the book is written.

 

Making Writing Plans Over the Christmas Holidays

As the famous ex-Beetle, John Lennon, once sang, “So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun.”

This is now the time of year when we reflect on what we've achieved, or not, over the last 12 months, and make plans for what we're going to achieve in the next 12 months.

But that's not true, is it? It’s not what we do. It’s only what we THINK we do.

We don't PLAN what we're going to do. We only SAY what we're going to do, with no actual “plan” to make it happen.

But what if you did have a plan? A month-by-month, week-by-week, day-by-day plan for everything you want to achieve, whether it's saving money, losing weight, or doing more writing, or all three?

The best way to plan something, especially a long-term plan, is to write it down.

Write down what you want to achieve and then create a timeline of what you need to do every month, then every week and every day, to get there.

For the plan to work, your goals need to be specific. So, for example, using the previous three goals mentioned, you'd have to say exactly how much money you want to have in savings, exactly how much weight you want to lose, and how many words you want to write and what you'll be writing.

Then you need to figure out exactly how you're going to do it all.

I've been working on my plan over the last couple of weeks, and I found it unexpectedly enlightening as to how to actually execute what I want to do.

And the most amazing (and positive) thing was that when I broke it all down into smaller monthly, weekly and daily goals, it's not as big as I thought it was when I was looking at it as a 12-month goal.

For instance, if I wanted to write half a million words in a year, that breaks down to only an hour a day of writing. And if I wanted to save $10,000, I would only have to cut back my spending by $192 a week, which is achievable through simple things like careful grocery spending, making fewer car trips, and avoiding purchases that are only wants and not needs. But these are not my goals, but just an example.

With my actual plan already in place (and I've already started working on my plan), I know that I'll achieve my goals because I’m working on them daily, but I won't tell you what they are yet, because I don't want to jinx it. But knowing what I have to do in the short-term (monthly/weekly/daily) makes the plan remarkably easy to follow. And leaves no room for excuses.

But for now, I will tell you that by following my plan, I’ll be eating better and writing a hell of a lot more.

Click the link below to see where I got my ideas from, and read more about how to create a plan for your own 12-month goals.

The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months

Audio book:

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Paperback:

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