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Well, I don’t have a cute backstory or a human interest story on this one. I forget where I picked up The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington and what caused me to pick it up or where I was in my life. All I know is that I’ve had this in my stack of ‘to read’ for a long time and never got around to it until now…well, December of 2022.
The authors turn the planning model on its head and instead of making plans for the entire year, they cut it down from 12 months to 12 weeks. Because there’s nothing more motivating than a deadline, things get done faster and more efficiently.
And because time is short(er) and every week counts, they emphasize how important it is to plan well and review the results at the end of every week. Jocko calls that ‘iterative decision-making’ in a plan.
They talk about blocking your time in three different capacities: Strategic (planning), Buffer (for mundane work), and Breakout (free time). Working all the time is not ideal.
The second half of the book covers their planning method and putting it all together to make it work.
But those that follow Jocko Willink (or have read his books) know that he’s a great proponent of getting after it and making the deadlines yourself and keeping them, not just as a new year resolution but all the time.
And those who follow Tom Venuto (Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle) and have taken part in his fitness challenges know the importance of the 12 week cycles. (Though Tom does two 12 week fitness challenges and two ‘Million Step Challenges’ a year. It’s fine. We love the forward progress it encourages us to make!)
My Recommendation: What I have (personally) found a little more helpful instead is David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology. But that’s for another book review. I have included a free download of a project planner that might also be helpful for you, as it has space for the plans as well as a review of what went well and what didn’t. Life in Nigeria is so unpredictable that I work from a project plan rather than a weekly, monthly or yearly plan.
My Rating: 3/5