The Concept of the 12 Week Year for Goal Setting

For the entire month of September, we are doing something completely different here on the podcast. I am going to have a guest with me for this entire month, and we are recording this all at one time.

I wanted to talk about one of my favorite tools that I use in my business. It is a book written by Brian P. Moran called The 12 Week Year and therefore my podcast theme for September is aptly named, Focused & Productive: Mastering The 12 Week Year!

The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do In 12 Months by Brian P. Moran is amazing. I’ve never used this book just by myself. I started out many years ago reading this book, along with a group of ladies. The only one that has stuck by me through this entire process is still here, and she is my guest today!

Her name is Trisha Cordes and she is my accountability partner and friend. She’s joining me on today’s podcast.

Alyssa: I’m so excited that you’re here.

Trisha: Me too. Thank you. This is exciting. This is something we know a lot about.

Alyssa: That’s right. We use it [The 12 Week Year themes of productivity, goal setting and time management] in our everyday life and business.

So Trisha and I met in 2016, when she became the intern for my virtual assistant business.

I have done internships since 2011 and the way that my internships work in my business is that I created a course that the ladies go through. In exchange for the cost of the course, they work with me and my business. And Trisha did that. Through that process, she became a virtual assistant. 

I’m going to let her tell you a little bit about her background and what she does now.    

Trisha: Perfect. I live near Cincinnati, Ohio, and I’ve been married to my college sweetheart for 25 years this year, and we have two boys. Professionally, I actually was an elementary teacher for 20 years, and I was looking for more flexibility and freedom, which is when I met you.

Then, after taking your course, I kicked off my own virtual assistant business.

Now I have six clients and I mostly work with podcast clients at this point. But it’s been such a blessing, especially going through the pandemic to be able to work at home and have that flexibility. I love that part about working at home. 

Alyssa: Absolutely. My mission has been since I started my internships to help other women be able to work from home, because I have done it. Anyone that has listened to my podcast for any length of time knows that I’ve been a virtual assistant for 16 years. It’ll soon be 17 in October.

That is such a huge blessing in my life and for my family and I wanted to share with other people. So that’s why I started the internship and the course.

But today we’re talking about this concept of The 12 Week Year.

The very first thing that Trisha and I will cover is what The 12 Week Year is because that’s the first step that you have to take in order to understand what we’re talking about and what we use it for in our lives and our businesses.

The 12 Week Year Concept

The 12 Week Year is a productivity system that helps individuals and teams to achieve more in less time.

Let’s share with them, Trisha, the basics of The 12 Week Year. We read this book together many years ago, and we started implementing the concepts written by Brian P. Moran.

Setting Goals

The very first piece is, instead of setting goals for an entire year and looking at the big picture, we set goals for 12 weeks at a time. 

And the shorter time period creates a sense of urgency that allows us to focus.

Yearly versus Quarterly Goal Setting

Alyssa: How do you approach this when you are setting your goals? Because you and I do this probably a little bit different. I set my goals for the year still, but then I break them down into four major chunks for being able to implement this 12 Week Year concept. How do you implement in your business?  

Trisha: That’s interesting because I don’t usually set yearly goals anymore. I literally – usually a week before the quarter – sit down and really just go through and brainstorm, and put out all the projects I want to work on.

Then I start to narrow down and figure out what I want to focus on for that quarter, because we have lots of ideas at any point spinning around. Oh, I want to do this and I want to do that. But then I take time that week before to really focus in on what needs to happen for the next quarter.

I, of course, spend time in prayer, reassuring that’s where God wants me to go as well. Then I try to solidify. Not, you really can’t do 10 goals. It’s just, that’s not where I am in the season of life I’m in. So usually I try to set four to five goals that I really want to focus on that quarter.

There may be goals that still need to be broken down into smaller tasks at that point.  But I do still set like those four or five main goals. 

The Benefit of a Shortened Planning Cycle 

Alyssa: One of the main concepts of The 12 Week Year is you’re breaking away from the annual plans. What I’ve noticed is even though I set the yearly goals, sometimes my 12 week goals end up not being related.

One of the things that it helps is shortening that planning cycle. It makes you take action.

Basically what you do is set those goals for that 12 week period of time and then you are able to set more focused goals rather than spreading it out.

One of my favorite concepts about The 12 Week Year is if you set yearly goals, you tend to procrastinate.

Trisha: True. But when you set 12 week goals, what do you do?  You don’t have time to procrastinate. 

Alyssa: You realize that we’ve got to get this done.  And this book introduces weekly and daily planning systems that align with those 12 week goals. So Trisha and I both do this together. 

The 12 Week Year Professionally and Personally

Alyssa: Like Trisha said, at the beginning of that 12 weeks, we say, okay, these are the things I want to get accomplished. Now I wanted to share, are these just goals that apply to your business or to your life too?   

Trisha: I think that’s a very good point because for me, I do both. 

I have my top couple business goals and then usually I have something that I want to do in the house. We moved last year. So I was decluttering. Each month I was organizing a different part of my house. So I do both.

I’m also working on organizing my photos. I have millions of photos and I’m working on organizing that. That’s a reoccurring goal I have been carrying over recently to get that done.

So yeah, that’s a very good point. Have a mix for sure. Sometimes, when you’re really working hard on business goals, you’re like, Oh, now I get to go work on photos for a while, or I get to go organize the closet. It’s like a break.  

Alyssa: One of my goals every year has been to read a certain number of books. Trisha and I often talk about, okay, what book are you reading this time? Because she has that goal too. And that’s something we do every 12 weeks.

So when we set those goals for the 12 weeks, they’re a mix of personal and business related goals. Next we have to break them down, and this is the concept of The 12 Week Year!

Our conversation continues as Trisha and I talk about Creating a Weekly Plan for Your Goals. Be on the lookout for the upcoming Podcast Episode #184!

Questions? Join the Group!

If you have specific questions about hosting a virtual summit, I’d love to get those because that would help me to make sure that I’m covering everything that you’re interested in knowing during this series on the podcast. You can submit your questions inside The Christian Business Advantage Facebook group. I look forward to seeing you there!