A few years ago I read The 12 Week Year, by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington. At the time, I picked up some good tips, but I didn’t take it farther than that. Towards the end of 2020 I heard Brian Moran interviewed on a podcast, and I decided to pick the book back up. Better still, I decided to put the system into practice.
If you’re not familiar with this book, the idea is that while having annual goals is better than having no goals at all, there are some real drawbacks with annual goals. We all know the feeling of setting annual goals in January, yet not feeling any real urgency since we have so far until the end of the year. It’s why in the fourth quarter we actually get a lot of stuff done. The 12 Week Year isn’t simply quarterly goals. It’s treating those 12 weeks as a year, with goals, strategies, and celebrations. As the authors say, “Twelve weeks is long enough to get things done, and yet is short enough to create and maintain a sense of urgency.”
This made a lot of sense to me, so I decided to give it a try. I set a few goals, some dealing with work and some with self-care. The two self-care goals were to read ten books and to do 48 sessions of cardio. I’m happy to report that I exceeded both of these goals. I track my reading with Goodreads, and last night I finished my fifteenth book. I set up a spreadsheet to record my cardio, and yesterday I recorded my 53rd session. The majority of these sessions was spent on a treadmill, though lately it’s been more bike riding or outdoor walks/hikes.
My other set of goals dealt with my work. I came into 2021 with several construction projects that had just begun. The first goal was to have 1176 Sledge Ave finished and on the market. I’m going to miss that goal by a week or two, but it’s mainly because we ended up doing more to the house than we first thought, which simply means a longer renovation period. The second goal was to be finished with our new construction project at 909 N. Avalon St. I underestimated this badly. We’re probably six weeks away from that being finished. This meant that my third goal, beginning construction on our second build, also did not happen. New construction is a brand new thing for us, so those were both overly optimistic goals. No harm, no foul. The last goal was to have 1195 Dorothy Pl under contract. That happened. I also bought and then sold another house during this time, and listed and got under contract a project we did a year ago, so all in all I’m happy with where I landed at the end of the 12 Week Year.
The last goal I had falls somewhere between self-care and work. It’s blogging. I set a goal of one post per week. This is my tenth post, so I fell short just a bit. Writing is something that I want to get back in the habit of doing, and while I have enjoyed blogging these last few months, I am definitely still trying to find my rhythm.
Now for some reflections…
- With both of the self-care goals, the key was setting the goal, but then also having an easy way to track it. I’m going to continue tracking my cardio activity, but with the weather as awesome as it is, I will most likely set a little higher goal for this next 12 Week Year. And with reading, I’m inspired to set an overall 2021 goal of averaging a book per week. I’ve never done that, but I think it’s very possible. Goodreads has been a huge help with this.
- I think the reading goal and the blogging goal can actually shape one another. It’s one thing to read a lot of great books. It’s another thing to take the time capture key ideas and reflections. I’m not always as good at that, but it’s something I want to get better at. For this next 12 Week Year I’m going to write some blog posts on key takeaways from some of these books.
- The new construction part of my business is way more passive than the renovation part. The reason is that we hire a builder to do everything. It’s actually pretty fantastic. My goal for this first 12 Week Year should have been to implement systems for the builds moving forward. That is a goal that I was able to accomplish. We spent time getting set up with the vendors that our builder uses. We selected products for this build that we will no doubt use for future builds. This will allow the next projects to be even more passive than the first one.
- I did not set any goals with my client business because I wasn’t sure what goals to set. That was a mistake. The goal I will set for this next 12 Week Year will have to do with the number of touch points I make each week with clients and friends. I’m really looking forward to making and accomplishing this goal.
- Finally, with a new 12 Week Year right around the corner, I’m able to start afresh without waiting until the end of 2021. That’s genius. I get to celebrate my successes and reevaluate my misses.