The key ideas

The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months

Brian P. Moran, Michael Lennington, 2013

Every January it feels as if December is a long way off, so the important things get put off. Brian Moran and Michael Lennington suggest treating twelve weeks as a year, not twelve months. The book shows how to plan a year like that, measure what you actually do each week, and keep going when it gets hard.

Who it is for

For anyone who sets goals for the year every January and finds by December that half of them never left the page. And for anyone who knows exactly what to do but somehow never gets around to doing it.

We mistakenly believe that there is a lot of time left in the year, and we act accordingly.

The December that comes too late

The end of the year in a sales department looks the same every year. People stay late, call the clients they have been putting off since spring, and close the deals they never got around to. Then January comes and it all starts over: December is far away, and there seems to be no rush.

Brian Moran and Michael Lennington have spent years advising companies and individuals on one question: why don't we do what we ourselves believe we should? In this book they suggest giving up on planning by the year and living in cycles of twelve weeks. Each of those cycles is what they call a year.

The main idea of the book is simple. Most people are not short of knowledge. They are short of consistent action. In the authors' experience, many people could double or triple their income if they steadily applied what they already know.

Next comes the whole system, step by step: why shrink the year, why you want to quit halfway, how to plan a week, how to score your own actions, and how commitment differs from interest.

A week is worth a month

The authors have a name for the habit of thinking about goals on the scale of a year: annualized thinking. In January, December feels very far away. Falling behind in March is no cause for alarm, since there are nine months to go. So spring slips by, then summer, and the real rush only starts in the autumn.

The authors suggest treating twelve weeks as a year. When they are over, what comes next is not the second quarter but a new year. The deadline is always close, so the important things have to happen now, not later. In a year like that, every week is worth a month, and every day is worth a week.

The idea comes from sport. Coaches have long split an athlete's training into short periods, each with its own goal. The approach is called periodization.

Twelve weeks is long enough to do something serious, and too short to get comfortable. After that comes the thirteenth week: time to look back at the results, rest, and plan the next year.

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About the author

Brian Moran founded the consulting firm Strategic Breakthroughs and has spent many years helping companies and leaders carry out their own plans. Michael Lennington works with him on the 12 week year system and rolls it out in companies.

All books by this author: Brian P. Moran, Michael Lennington

Terms from the book

  • Kelley
  • Commitment
  • Conner
  • Vision
  • Tactics
  • Annualized thinking: The authors' phrase for the habit of setting goals for a whole year and assuming there is plenty of time until December, so the important things can wait.
  • Periodization: An approach from sports training: the training year is split into short periods, each with its own goal. The authors carried it over to work and personal plans.
  • Thirteenth week: In the authors' system, the week after a 12 week cycle: time to review the results, rest and plan the next cycle.
  • Valley of despair: In the version of the change cycle the authors use, the stage when the first burst of enthusiasm has worn off and the cost of the change has become clear. An image from the model, not a scientific term.
  • Strategic block: A term from the book: three uninterrupted hours once a week, with no calls and no email, kept for the most important work.
  • Buffer block: A term from the book: half an hour or an hour where emails, calls and small errands are gathered, so they do not chop up the rest of the day.
  • Breakout block: In the book, three hours for something that has nothing to do with work, to recharge.
  • Lag indicators: Measures that show the end result: income, weight, number of clients. They change later than the actions that lead to them.
  • Lead indicators: Measures of the actions that lead to a result: the number of calls, workouts, pages written. You can see them right away, long before the outcome.
  • Execution score: A tool from the book: the share of the tactics planned for the week that you actually completed, as a percentage.
  • Weekly accountability meeting: In the authors' system, a short meeting once a week with two to four people who are also working their own plans and share their scores.

All terms

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