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.
