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

by Brian P. Moran

Think about the implications of a 12 Week Year. The excitement, energy, and focus that happen every December now happen continuously.

implications

The first step is to create a personal vision, a vision that clearly captures and articulates what you want in life. The personal vision should define the life you want to live in all areas, including spiritual, relationships, family, income, lifestyle, health, and community.

personal vision, first step

Sir William Osler, founder of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that the secret of his success was living his life in “day-tight compartments.” What he found was that, while we plan for the future, we act in the day.

Act in the day

An ability to make and keep commitments improves results, builds trust, and fosters high-performance teams, yet many of us avoid making commitments, and worse yet, we often break them when the going gets tough. To be truly great at what we do, we have to become better at keeping our promises.

promises

The fact is that life happens in the moment, life is lived in the moment, and ultimately, greatness is created in the moment.

Live in the moment

is your personal vision that keeps you in the game when things become difficult.

Vision

All of these thoughts and comments are smoke screens that reveal a deeper fear of transparency and accountability.

Fears

The lag indicators are the end results, and your 12 week goals are the ultimate lagging indicators. If you are tracking progress towards your goals,

Lag

Lead indicators are the things that happen early in the execution process.

Lead

you frequently defer the strategic work to accomplish the urgent, lower-value activities, you will never accomplish great things. If you work under the belief that you can eventually get the important things done by first working through the urgent ones, you will likely never get to the strategic stuff.

If