Today I want to talk about a concept that will alter your life!  I want to discuss a topic that will cause a “paradigm shift” in your thinking, and increase your progress several fold.

I recently read a book titled “Periodization” by Brian P. Moran.  This amazing book discusses the concept of moving away from a 12 month year, to a “12 Week Year.”  Wow!

In the next few moments, I want to briefly discuss why you must move from a 12 month year to a “12 Week Year,” …if you want to make significant progress.

Without further a due, let us begin…

What happens at the end of a year? 

Typically one of two things happen at year-end, either people are scrambling to make their goals, thus car sales are at an all-time high in December, insurance sales skyrocket in December, and productivity goes through the roof.  In other words, things are finally getting done at year-end because people are trying to make their goals before it’s too late.

Or, if the above isn’t happening, here’s what’s happening: people are relaxing, they’ve forgotten about their diet goals, they’ve stopped thinking about their financial targets, and although the year isn’t over, people have already postponed their goals to the next year.  Why?  Because their goals were made so long ago that it has ceased to be in their forefront.  Additionally, things have changed since January, things they couldn’t have predicted; things that stagnate their progress towards their goals.  And they are now so far off course it doesn’t even make any sense to try to achieve the goal at this time, and so they don’t.

Herein lies the remarkable beauty of the “12 Week Year”…

The “12 Week Year” will ensure that you never forget about your goals, it will force you to be as productive as an insurance agency in December…not just once, but four times a year.

It keeps your year short enough so that you don’t lose momentum.  It gives you the ability to re-adjust your goals every 12 weeks based on changing circumstances (as it is impossible to know exactly what situations you will encounter in a 12 month year).

What exactly is a “12 Week Year?”

In a “12 Week Year:”

• 12 Weeks = 12 Calendar Months
• 1 Week = 1 Calendar Month
• 1 Day = 1 Calendar Week

Let me ask you this, if you’re going to be successful this year, can you afford to waste one entire month?  Can you have one month without any progress? 

The answer is “no.”

So remember, one week is now the equivalent of a month, and it cannot be wasted!  Even a day cannot be wasted, as it is now the equivalent of a week.

…Every moment counts in a “12 Week Year!”  So forget about twelve month years, filled with slow days, diminutive progress, and countless wasted moments.

…You see, I’ve never met a successful person who didn’t value every moment, and I’ve never met an unsuccessful person who did…

To succeed you have to maximize, measure, and monitor the moments; the “12 Week Year” gives you a system for doing so. 

All successful people recognize the priceless gift of a moment; all successful companies monitor their moments.  UPS, which is the largest global shipping company in the world, monitors every moment; they know their results will be notably different if there’s an unexpected snow storm on “one day” during the year.  They know that in a leap year, they have “one more day” to improve their overall results.  That’s why it’s said that they run the “Tightest ship in the shipping industry.”

If UPS has to monitor everyday in order to succeed, what about you…

The “12 Week Year”

You may ask, “Is a ‘12 Week Year’ the same as having quarterly goals?”

And the answer is a resounding, “No!”

Each “12 Week Year” stands on its own, sure it’s part of an overall plan (maybe an 18 month plan), BUT at the end of each “12 Week Year” you measure your results based on your goals for that period alone. 

You then make adjustments as necessary, based on the new information that you have discovered, and you begin a new “12 Week Year” the way you would begin a new calendar year.  (You begin your new “12 Week Year” with critical information about your successes, your failures, and now you can more accurately predict what will occur in the next 12 weeks.)

…The “12 Week Year” will allow you to accomplish more because you will be focused four times as much each year.  Focus is power, and power accurately directed brings desired results.

As for me and my house…

No longer will I set goals for a 12 month calendar year; my “12 Week Year” starts today and it ends on March 28^th. 

March 28^th will be the end of my first “12 Week Year” and after that year I will assess my results the same as I would assess my results at the end of a calendar year.  I will make adjustments, maybe take a few days off, and then I will begin my next “12 Week Year.”

You may ask, “What if someone doesn’t make their goal during the 12 Week Year?” 

Well, that’s a whole lot better than them not making their goal for an entire year!  After your “12 Week Year” you can re-group, re-assess and move forward with what you’ve learned.  Even if you failed in your first four “12 Week Years,” you would be learning at a significantly faster rate.  As I always say, in order to succeed, you have to double, triple, and even quadruple your failure rate.  Thus the “12 Week Year” will assist you greatly in succeeding.

Tony Robbins said, “The truth of the matter is that there’s nothing you can’t accomplish if: (1) You clearly decide what it is that you’re absolutely committed to achieving. (2)  You’re willing to take massive action. (3) You know what’s working or not, and (4) You continue to change your approach until you achieve what you want, using whatever life gives you along the way.”

That’s what the “12 Week Year” is all about.

In Closing

Are you ready to start your “12 Week Year?”  You can start today; lay out your goals, begin to take massive action, make corrections, and soon…success will be yours!

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