Book Notes: 12 Week Year

I recently read 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington, which presents a strategic framework condensing annual goals into 12-week cycles, emphasizing execution, focus, and accountability for accelerated achievement. Here are my notes from the book:

– 12 weeks → 1 week = 1 month, 1 day = 1 week
– to execute successfully it is essential to have strong emotional stake in the outcome
– without a compelling reason to choose otherwise people will take comfortable actions over uncomfortable ones
– you need a compelling vision of the future even more than you desire your own short-term comfort
– without compelling vision you will discover there is no reason to go through the pain of change
– you need a future that is bigger than the present
– business vision is most powerful when it is developed in light of your personal vision → personal vision is reason why you work in the first place
– what is the plan that you are going to do with your one wild and precious life?
– if you don’t know where you’re going you will end up some place else
– start with your vision, then rate yourself 1-10 in the 7 areas of life balance:
– spiritual
– spouse/partner
– family
– community
– physical
– personal
– business
– work life: “if your career provides you a nice income and you enjoy what you do, that creates energy and momentum across other areas, and will have a positive effect”
– my first 12 (10) weeks:
– teach my second dance class
– get 705+ on GMAT focus → get 330+ on GRE
– plan first half of year (plan out my vacations for this week)
– the greatest predictor of your future are your daily actions
– measure each week with a weekly scorecard
– if you are not purposeful about how you spend your time, then you leave your results to chance
– people spend what time is needed to respond without giving much thought as to the relative value of the activity
– you set your value for the day instead of letting the day direct you
– war on mediocrity
– “if we take care of the minutes the years will take care of themselves” → learn to handle things that come up last minute that you don’t anticipate
– block out regular time each week!
– strategic block:
– 3-hour block of uninterrupted time that is scheduled into each week
– accept no phone calls, no faxes, no emails, no visitors → no ANYTHING
– just focus ALL energy on strategic money-making energy
– buffer blocks:
– buffer blocks deal with all unplanned and low-value activities like email/voicemail that arise throughout day
– nothing is more unproductive & frustrating than dealing with instant interruptions yet we all have days where unplanned items dominate our time
– for some 30-minute buffer a day is sufficient, for others 2 separate one-hour blocks may be necessary
– breakout blocks:
– free time to do whatever you want
– < 3 hours
– spending leisure time and doing comfortable tasks is undoubtedly healthy in moderation, but when we consistently choose comfortable activity, we are dooming ourselves to lives lived far short of our capabilities → as Robert Louis Stevenson once said “eventually everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences”
– common pitfalls
– pitfall 1: you miss a commitment once and give up → tip 1: don’t overcommit
– pitfall 2: you fail to confront missed commitments → tip 2: if you are serious about your commitments then tell someone you trust
– pitfall 3: you don’t value your word → tip 3: buddy up, have a friend/coworker engage in commitment with you
– your first 12 weeks
– initial:
– set long term vision
– set 12 week goal
– first 1-4 weeks:
– weekling routine
– plan your week
– score your week
– participate in a weekly accountability meeting (WAM)
– block time and track key measures
– commit to staying on track for first 4 weeks → first 4 weeks are critical to getting a fast start to goal and establishing 12-week year as execution system
– DON’T start a week without weekly plan, after, each week takes a few minutes to score execution
– second 4 weeks:
– don’t start out strong and then abandon
– see progress in your lead and lag numbers
– weekly scores should be improving toward 85 percent, have sense of progress toward goal → if not, identify breakdown and commit to resolving it
– last 4 weeks:
– last 4 weeks are chance to finish strong!
– change the way you think ^ act to create permanent leap in performance & capacity
– set yourself up for next 12 weeks → 13th week if necessary as extra week to hit your goals, recognize & celebrate progress and success