🌱Three Sentence description​

1. Accomplish your most important tasks in 12 weeks than 1 year

2. Increase revenue, boast sales, optimize ROI by taking your business to the next level by overcoming the hurdles, the impossibilities and the doubts into success by ensuring non-stop constant productivity

3. Ditch year long resolutions and adopt the 12 week year method. Complete yearly goals in 12 weeks and complete 6 year goals in 1 year

 

💬 Top 3 Quotes

• Knowledge is only powerful if you use it, if you act on it.

• Execution is the single greatest market differentiator

• It’s not what you know; it’s not even who you know; it’s what you implement that counts

 

🧗🏾‍♀️ How I’ve Changed After Reading the Book

The way I approach New Year resolutions have changed after reading this book. It dawned on me that all the new years that I’ve carefully curated a list of things I want to accomplish by the end of the year never gets accomplished by 60% even. Now with the system detailed in this book, I can plan my year and plans in chunks to effectively and productively accomplish my goals and make the most out of every single day.

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👣Who Should Read It?

Everyone should read it. This is a practical book that will work for everyone no matter where you are in life. You will learn how to optimize your goals and get maximum and greater returns, as well as learn to accomplish a great number of goals in a short span of time.

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📒Summary + Notes

• Chapter 1 - The Challenge

Knowledge is power. But “Knowledge is only powerful if you use it, if you act on it.”

 

Part 1 - Things You Think You Know

• Chapter 2 - Redefining the Year

  • Discard annualized thinking. We should not set goals with a year as the time scale at which the goal must be attained. That notion should be discarded as every week counts, every day counts, every moment counts.

    Stop thinking in terms of a year; instead focus on shorter time frames

    • Be conscious that execution happens daily, not weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly.

  • Great things happen at year-end. The end of year is a point where we measure our successes or failures. It is the deadline of Dec. 31st that creates urgency

  • Periodization. Its principles are focus, concentration, overload on a specific skill or discipline.

    The 12 Week Year defines what’s important for you to do today so that your long-term objectives can be attained

     

    • The 12 Week Year is a structured approach that changes the way you think and act. The results you obtain are a byproduct of your actions, hence, your actions are manifestations of your underlying thinking

  • 12 Weeks Equals a Year. Forget about a year. The 12 Week Year forces you to confront your lack of execution and narrows your focus to the week and more to the point, the day, which is where execution occurs.

    And just like you do at the end of a calendar year, every 12 weeks you take a break, celebrate, and reload.

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    • You no longer have the luxury of putting off the critical activities imagining that there is plenty of time left in the year.e

    • Effective execution does not happen monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually; it happens daily, ultimately moment be moment

    • With this, you experience the anticipation of a new year every 12 weeks. And every 12 weeks, you get a fresh start - a new year.

• Chapter 3 - The Emotional Connection

  The number-one thing that you will have to sacrifice to be great, to achieve what you are capable of, and to execute your plans, is your comfort

  Vision is the starting point of all high performance. You create things twice; first mentally, then physically

  • Vision provides that line of sight - that emotional link - to help you overcome the challenges and execute

  • Your brain and vision. You can train your brain to act on a vision just by thinking about it. First, create an inspiring vision and stay connected with it.

 

• Chapter 4 - Throw Out the Annual Plan

  • 12 Week Planning. (1) With a 12 week plan, predictability is much greater. (2) It is more focused. (3) The structure is different

  • Setting goals. Once your 12 week goals are established, tactics are needed to execute these goals. Tactics are daily to-do’s that drive the attainment of your goals. They must be specific, actionable, and include due-dates and assigned responsibilities.

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• Chapter 5 - One Week at a Time

  • The Weekly Plan. With the 12 Week Year, a year is now equivalent to 12 weeks, a month is now a week, and a week is now a day. The importance and power of each day becomes greater

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• Chapter 6 - Confronting the Truth

  • Weekly scorecard. If you complete 85% of activities in your weekly plan, you will most likely achieve your objectives

  • Productive tension is the uncomfortable feeling you get when you’re not doing the things you know you need to do.

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• Chapter 7 - Intentionality

  To realize your potential, you must learn to be more mindful about how you spend your time.

  Intentionality is your secret weapon in your war on mediocrity.

  • The Importance of Yes and No.

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• Chapter 8 - Accountability as Ownership

  • “When you understand that true accountability is about choice and taking ownership of your choices, everything changes. You move from resistance to empowerment, from limits to possibilities, and from mediocrity to greatness.”

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• Chapter 9 - Interest verses Commitment

  Four keys to successful commitments:

  • “A commitment is a personal promise. Keeping your promises to others builds trust and strong relationships, and keeping promises to yourself builds character, esteem, and success.”

  • “When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit, but when you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.

  1. Strong desire

  2. Keystone actions

  3. Count the costs

  4. Act on commitments, not feelings

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• Chapter 10 - Greatness in the Moment

  • Results are not the attainment of greatness, but simply confirmation of it

  • God has given unto us the ability to be great. However, it takes discipline to do extra things to be a champion even when you don’t feel like it

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• Chapter 11 - Intentional Imbalance

  Life balance is achieved when you are purposeful about how and where you spend your time, energy, and effort. At different times in your life you will choose to focus on one area over another, and that’s perfectly fine, provided it’s intentional.

  • Trying to spend equal time in various areas of your life is not practical and would not create the life you desire. It is unproductive and often frustrating.

    • Life balance is not about equal time in each area, it is more of intentional imbalance

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Part II - Putting It All Together

• Chapter 12 - The Execution System

   

Eight Elements Fundamental to High Performance

1. Vision

2. Planning

3. Process Control

4. Measurement

5. Time Use

6. Accountability

7. Commitment

8. Greatness in the Moment

 

The 12 Week Year builds on Three Principles - they form the foundation of personal and professional success

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1. Accountability - is ownership. It is a character trait, a stance, a willingness to own actions and results regardless of the circumstances.

• ​The ultimate aim of accountability is to continually ask oneself, “What more can I do to get the result?”

 

2. Commitment - is a personal promise you make to yourself. Keeping your promises to others builds strong relationships, and keeping promises to yourself builds character, esteem, and success.

• Commitment and accountability go hand-in hand. Commitment is accountability projected into the future.

 

3. Greatness in the Moment - Greatness is not achieved when a great result is reached, but long before that, when an individual makes a choice to do the necessary to become great

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Five Disciplines - concentrates on building capacity within a set of success disciplines that are required for effective execution.

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1. Vision - A compelling vision creates a clear picture of the future

2. Planning - An effective plan clarifies and focuses on top-priority and actions needed to achieve vision

3. Process Control - consists of a set of tools and events that align your daily actions with the critical actions in your plan

4. Measurement - drives the process. It is an anchor of reality. It combines lead and lag indicators that provide comprehensive feedback

5. Time Use - Everything happens in the context of time. Stay in control of your time to control your results

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​The Emotional Cycle of Change

• The 12 Week Year requires you to change, and change is uncomfortable. It is important to understand the process one goes when going through emotionally during change.

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Five Stages People Move to Change Their Behavior​

1. Uninformed Optimism - all our emotions are charged by the anticipation and benefits of change. this is our uninformed optimism where we don’t notice any of the downside

2. Informed Pessimism - is characterized by a shift to a negative emotional state, where you start to question, have doubts and ask if all is worth it

3. Valley of Despair - here, pain is felt, and the benefits seem far from reach. People give up at this stage which is crucial to the whole process of change

4. Informed Optimism - the likelihood of success is higher and the benefits of your actions are bearing fruits and doubts reduces

5. Success and Fulfillment - the benefits of your new habit are fully experienced and the costs of change are gone.​

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Chapter 13 - Establish Your Vision

There are three time horizons that you’ll want to focus your vision:

• The shift in your thinking must go form probable to given. This happens when your begin to implement the planned actions

1. Long-term aspirations

2. Mid-term goals, about three years into the future

3. 12 Weeks

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Chapter 14 - Develop Your 12 Week Plan

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Effective Plan Structure

• A good plan starts with a good goal. The more specific and measurable your 12 Week Goals are, the easier you can write a solid plan

• Each tactic should start with a verb, be a complete sentence, and be executable

 

Criteria for Planning a 12 Week Plan

1. Make them specific and measurable

2. State them positively

3. Ensure they are a realistic stretch

4. Assign Accountability

5. Be time-bound